The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly

The Washington Times ^ | April 18, 2005 | Dan Omstead

[agsloss]

Lancaster, PA, Apr. 18 (UPI) -- Part 1 of 2. Where are the autistic Amish? Here in Lancaster County, heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, there should be well over 100 with some form of the disorder. I have come here to find them, but so far my mission has failed, and the very few I have identified raise some very interesting questions about some widely held views on autism. The mainstream scientific consensus says autism is a complex genetic disorder, one that has been around for millennia at roughly the same prevalence. That prevalence is now considered to be 1 in every 166 children born in the United States. Applying that model to Lancaster County, there ought to be 130 Amish men, women and children here with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Well over 100, in rough terms. Typically, half would harbor milder variants such as Asperger's Disorder or the catch-all Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified -- PDD-NOS for short. So let's drop those from our calculation, even though "mild" is a relative term when it comes to autism. That means upwards of 50 Amish people of all ages should be living in Lancaster County with full-syndrome autism, the "classic autism"...

-snip-

I have identified three Amish residents of Lancaster County who apparently have full-syndrome autism, all of them children. A local woman told me there is one classroom with about 30 "special-needs" Amish children. In that classroom, there is one autistic Amish child. Another autistic Amish child does not go to school. The third is that woman's pre-school-age daughter. If there were more, she said, she would know it. What I learned about those children is the subject of the next column.

[blam]

"Apparently autism is nonexistent in Amish who do not vaccinate, but is seen in the younger Amish who do vaccinate. (I apologize for the poor editing of the above article--it's my first post)."

Good post

There's a good article on this subject in the March edition of Discover magazine titled: Our Preferred Poison. (It's the mercury in the vaccines)

[Orgiveme]

Partial list of scientific studies linking the MMR vaccine and autism:

Thanks for this! I didn't have this pulled together, though I know it exists.

That may do the trick with this level of poster -- I'm still reading through the thread in order -- and maybe he/she has dropped and is looking for their straight pin while you rescabbard your Damascene-ornamented broadsword -- ha ha!

Better yet, ping the person who was mentioning -- but not citing any -- studies...

[Egon]

Where are you getting your numbers? If that were true, then every child who got their shots would have DIED.

And, logically, since they didn't, everything is A-OK.

[hobbes1]

The mercury Content is total vaccines over a 6 month period.

The amount of Bllod in the body is basic Physiology, you can look it up.


In an average healthy adult, the volume of blood is about one-eleventh of the body weight. Most sources state the volume of blood in an average human adult, who is between 150 to 160 pounds, as between 4.7 and 5 liters, although the more recent sources state the volume of blood in an average adult as 4.7 liters. Sources state that an 80-pound child had about half that amount, and an 8-pound infant has about 8.5 ounces.

[TomB]

No, I mean where did you get the specific NUMBERS?

Please post the link.

[monday]

"The question is: Given the above fact, and that, potentially, people are at risk from them in an unforseen way, how do you go about convincing people that the problem should be acknowledged, looked at, and then fixed?"

Why do you think they aren't looking into and trying to "fix" any problems? Doing otherwise would open them up to massive class action lawsuits later if it is proved they had any any idea their vaccines caused problems and did nothing to fix them.

If some vaccines do cause autism, it will be proved eventually and prolonging the use of potentially dangerous vaccines simply isn't financially sound business practice, not to mention ethically unsound. If they can, drug manufacturers will make vaccines safer out of self preservation.

Of course this assumes a free market for vaccines which isn't quite the case ,as the CDC pretty much controls the market. If you want safer vaccines you should lobby congress to get government ineptitude out of the vaccine market.

[hobbes1]

Which Specific Numbers? Blood, or Vaccine?

[Orgiveme]

human cannibalism does a body bad.

Actually, this factor may explain the known auto-immune reaction to Pitocin; as far back as the 1960's I was hearing that Pitocin and Syntocinon contained "human-derived" hormone.

[TomB]

BTW, you cut-and-paste well. You give give attribution when you do that:

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1998/LanNaLee.shtml

"In an average healthy adult, the volume of blood is about one-eleventh of the body weight. Most sources state the volume of blood in an average human adult, who is between 150 to 160 pounds, as between 4.7 and 5 liters, although the more recent sources state the volume of blood in an average adult as 4.7 liters. Sources state that an 80-pound child had about half that amount, and an 8-pound infant has about 8.5 ounces"

[TomB]

Which Specific Numbers? Blood, or Vaccine?

Toxic level of Mercury and the vaccine amounts.

[Egon]

Why do you think they aren't looking into and trying to "fix" any problems? Doing otherwise would open them up to massive class action lawsuits later if it is proved they had any any idea their vaccines caused problems and did nothing to fix them.

Let me answer your question with a question:

Why is it common, everyday practice in hospitals all over this country to not only use Pitocin to induce childbirth, but to actively try to talk the patient into its use, even after they voice their objections?

The FDA removed its approval of the use of Pitocin in 1978. Pitocin is still being created by drug companies. The AMA is still preaching its everyday use. The hospitals are still using it...heavily.

Now apply your logic, and explain this situation to me. I can't. I'd be willing to bet that it all comes back to the almighty dollar.

[AmishDude]

Thanks, although I have no opinion other than to say most Amish vaccinate, some do not. Pretty much only the Schwartzentruber (who refuse the orange triangles) or similar groups would not vaccinate. Otherwise they would.

[YankeeinOkieville]

per your questions in your post #125: Again the more traditional the community (of the 3 I am familiar with that'd be the Swartzendrubers) the less (chemical/man made) fertilizer and cleaning substances used. They preserve their bounty with a LOT of canning of home grown veggies. Meats are preserved by canning, smoking, salting, and in the winter (way upstate N.Y.) freezing. Eggs and milk are fresh daily and cheese is made at home as are baked goods which use lard rendered from butchered cattle & swine.

I really got a chuckle out of the mental image you gave me when you mentioned cell phones. OTOH, the Old Order Amish ladies were allowed to clean homes for the 'English' (that'd be us non-Amish) and there are both phones and television in those homes. Also, Mennonites do allow telephones and electricity.

OTC meds would go along with the immunization question. Traditional communities tend to use herbs and traditional recipes. Cimicifica, cauliphyllum, mullein, echinaecia, garlic, yes, even chicken soup. I remember seeing Clappers on more than one book shelf.

Exhaust would depend on the location of the individual's house, now wouldn't it? If a home is located off a back road, there'd be a lot less traffic going by than one situated just a mile outside a city on a main road. As for their own vehicles, again the community come into play. Mennonites drive motorized vehicles, Old Order are allowed to accept rides to and from work and can use fuel to heat with(but not be hooked up to an outside pipeline), and quite often younger adults work outside the community, Swartzendrubers only use diesel to run tractor engines hooked to a belt that runs their corn up to the top of the silo. They can accept rides only in motorized vehicles ONLY in an emergency. For instance, if a difficult labor HAS to be taken to the hospital or an injury is life-threateningly serious. Most floors in Amish households are wooden and if there's a rug, it is not likely to be foam rubber. Clothing is not mixed fiber and not flame retardant.

Teething rings are usually something like a dried apple or their own little fists. Amish babies do NOT suck on binkies. (I wish more mothers would quit this disgusting habit)

Physical activity during pregnancy!? You're kidding, right? What'd'ya think they do - take a vacation from the farm and let the cows milk themselves and the beans get planted by magic?

[Orgiveme]

Why is this such a problem for some of you guys to understand? After all, we're not discussing this on DU, where the majority of the blind sheeple hang out.

I'm still working my way through the thread post by post, but here's my response to the above:

There are alternatives to conventional (allopathic) medicine, but people are uninformed or even disinformed about those alternatives, and it takes a certain amount of negative personal experience with the conventionalist approach and/or some background in the field. Given one or both of those (both in my own case) you gain the incentive to even begin questioning this part of the hierarchy of misplaced trust by people raised in our society.

This is a sad example, among many, of learning stuff the hard way. Even then, you have to begin to even consider questioning the validity of the approach being used on you (look at all the slash-and-burn patients in the cancer treatment system, frinstance) before you can begin to get the connections.

This is a perfect illustration of: There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see. It's a matter of the will.

One of my favorites: Where there's a will, there's a way.

[SouthernFreebird]

Explain to me then why boys are more likely to develop Autism from a vaccine?

[TheBattman]

That hasn't always been the case. From the reading I posted on a previous post, there have been some isolated epidemics of "preventable" illnesses that has changed some of their minds.

But the Amish use to (as I understand it) not allow vaccinations. Vaccination of Amish children is a fairly recent development.

[Egon]

This is a sad example, among many, of learning stuff the hard way. Even then, you have to begin to even consider questioning the validity of the approach being used on you (look at all the slash-and-burn patients in the cancer treatment system, frinstance) before you can begin to get the connections.

Sadly, I fear the autism ratio will need to reach 1 in 10, or 1 in 50 before the problem will even be acknowledged, let alone looked at.

Then, the pendulum will swing the other way: NO ONE will immunize anymore. Products will be pulled, en masse, from drugstore shelves. ...and some people on this thread will very calmly deny that the problem was ever in doubt.

[Orgiveme]

I am not trying to debunk the concept that childhood vaccinations now, or ever, play(ed) a role in people developing autism. It's just that, at this point, it is a concept trying to correlate the two but it has not proven or found a causitive factor that actually links them. So, people should avoid making declaritive statements about that unproven link; at least for now.

You make what appears to be a valid point; I think another poster challenges it elsewhere, somewhat successfully from what I read.

I've learned that it helps a lot to have actual hands-on or other vested experience in a topic; not having that doesn't invalidate your input, but it can somewhat hamper your actual perceptions or even the amount of time you've spent thinking about it specifically (in this case, autism per se).

As I've indicated elsewhere in this thread (I'm reading through slowly and posting as I go), virtually all empirical studies are based on observation and it's hard to observe what you aren't literally exposed to.

I thought your input was valuable but I'm glad I've read the response to it and I hope you will respond to that.

[fooman]

Vaccines almost certainly cause auto-immune disease and autism.

The thing is you must inject your child or no school

[Eva]

You have to admit that it isn't likely that there are many tech nerds among the Amish population.