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The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly
The Washington Times ^ | April 18, 2005 | Dan Omstead

Posted on 04/20/2005 8:26:42 AM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amish; autism; cooksbrains; mercury; rx; vaccines
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To: TomB

The 1 ppm is contained (though it is fair to note for Methyl Mercury) in every FDA warning to Pregnant women about Fish Consumption.

The EPA number is parroted here...
http://www.mercola.com/2003/apr/9/diet_mercury.htm


FDA, thimerasol,
A vaccine containing 0.01% thimerosal as a preservative contains 50 micrograms of thimerosal per 0.5 mL dose or approximately 25 micrograms of mercury per 0.5 mL dose.

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm



181 posted on 04/20/2005 11:24:16 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you dont have to...." ;)
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To: agere_contra
thimerosal contains 49.6 percent mercury as a preservative

I didn't realize it was that high; does that mean that in 1 cc of vaccine, nearly half is mercury? If people knew JUST THAT, it would majorly impact the industry, I'm sure.

182 posted on 04/20/2005 11:24:48 AM PDT by Orgiveme (Give me liberty orgiveme death!)
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To: YankeeinOkieville

I wasn't really looking for answers (I'm pretty familiar with Amish ways), but just pointing out that there must be a thousand possible reasons for a lower autism rate among the Amish, and thus singling out low vaccinination rates as somehow particularly likely to be a major factor, is pretty ridiculous.


183 posted on 04/20/2005 11:24:56 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Egon
"The FDA removed its approval of the use of Pitocin in 1978."

How can hospitals use it if it isn't approved? Isn't that against the law?
184 posted on 04/20/2005 11:25:31 AM PDT by monday
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To: YankeeinOkieville
paragraph 3: "Clappers" should be "Culpepper's", dang spell checker wanting to correct what's not wrong.
185 posted on 04/20/2005 11:25:37 AM PDT by YankeeinOkieville
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To: Orgiveme

I agree. I would always consider supplements, vitamins, herbal remedies if possible. One child in our area was given polio serum and the baby contact polio and later died of it. It can be very dangerous.


186 posted on 04/20/2005 11:26:38 AM PDT by Marysecretary (Thank you, Lord, for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!)
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To: SouthernFreebird

I don't believe for a minute that vaccines are responsible for autism, but any genetic disease or pre-disposition to disease, which is X-chromosome linked is more prevalent in boys (since they have only one, and if that one is "bad", there isn't another one to provide a compensating normal gene).


187 posted on 04/20/2005 11:27:15 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: SouthernFreebird
Explain to me then why boys are more likely to develop Autism from a vaccine?

Excellent question, and I hope one that will be looked at, if it hasn't been already.

As I mentioned before to another poster, who had proffered a genetic link to autism, I suspect that there may be groups of people whom are more susceptible to the causes of autism-- even to the syndrome, itself.

There are plenty of afflictions out there that are more prevalent in men than women, women than men, blacks than whites, etc. Maybe hormone levels protect one somewhat? I've not a clue.

It is an important question, though.

188 posted on 04/20/2005 11:27:23 AM PDT by Egon (Liberals: The only group of people they don't want to kill are those that kill others.)
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To: TomB
CDC, amounts, cumulative. http://www.cdc.gov/nip/vacsafe/concerns/thimerosal/faqs-thimerosal.htm Prior to the recent initiative to reduce or eliminate thimerosal from childhood vaccines, the maximum cumulative exposure to mercury via routine childhood vaccinations during the first six months of life was 187.5 micrograms.
189 posted on 04/20/2005 11:28:10 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you dont have to...." ;)
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To: Marysecretary
They don't go to doctors

Geauga county Ohio has a very large Amish community and the have a study going on at Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital in Cleveland just for the Amish as they are prone to many genetic diseases. Any day of the week you see upwards of 30 families there
190 posted on 04/20/2005 11:28:26 AM PDT by boxerblues
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To: Egon

DTP was replaced with DTaP after there many many reactions.

Reagan started the vaccine trust fund due to all the lawsuits.


191 posted on 04/20/2005 11:30:56 AM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
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To: monday
How can hospitals use it if it isn't approved? Isn't that against the law?

I've not a clue.

The fact that the FDA unapproved the drug is a verifiable fact. The statement that hospitals use it daily is a verifiable anecdote.

This fact, though, instantly shut down the doctor whom I was arguing with while my wife lay there in labor. My wife wouldn't let anyone into the delivery room but me-- certainly not our attorney, if we had had one.

;-)

192 posted on 04/20/2005 11:32:51 AM PDT by Egon (Liberals: The only group of people they don't want to kill are those that kill others.)
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To: Egon

http://www.danconference.com/index.htm

Defeat Autism Now
There are some very interesting findings coming out that indicate the children who do not have good pathways to rid their bodies of heavy metals are the ones who are susceptible to Autism from heavy metal exposure. They concentrate it in their tissues - gut, brain, etc. There have been some improvements in their disease by chelation and methyl-B12 injections. New book out by David Kirby:
Evidence of Harm : Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy
by David Kirby


193 posted on 04/20/2005 11:37:07 AM PDT by MassRepublican
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To: TomB

You are mistaken - although thimerosal has been reduced and eliminated in some vaccines, it is still present in many.

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm

And the fact remains that many vaccines are still produced using aborted fetal tissues. Quite honestly - I would rather not have vaccines if it meant that less babies would be murdered.


194 posted on 04/20/2005 11:41:37 AM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberals) and gasoline producers and sellers- the cult of Satan)
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To: fooman
DTP was replaced with DTaP after there many many reactions.

I wonder how vilified the people were that were proffering anecdotal evidence of the problem, prior to this resolution. I suspect that we are sitting somewhere in this cycle.

Reagan started the vaccine trust fund due to all the lawsuits.

I'm sure that's what the drug companies are fearful of again.

195 posted on 04/20/2005 11:41:39 AM PDT by Egon (Liberals: The only group of people they don't want to kill are those that kill others.)
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To: hobbes1
Uh, you are comparing ethylmercury to methylmercury. There is a BIG difference. And I wouldn't go to Mercola for the time of day.

Check here

196 posted on 04/20/2005 11:42:26 AM PDT by TomB ("The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives." - S. Rushdie)
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To: MassRepublican

I'm reading that Now.


I could throttle some people.


197 posted on 04/20/2005 11:42:26 AM PDT by hobbes1 (Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you dont have to...." ;)
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To: monday

Do you honestly think that there would have been fewer polio cases during the last twenty years if the polio vaccine had not been invented?

No. I'm just saying that the CDC Knew that the live vaccines were causing polio and that there was a safer alternative and the CDC chose profits over protection.


198 posted on 04/20/2005 11:43:17 AM PDT by freedomfiter2
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To: Explodo
Honestly, WE are fighting a whooping cough epidemic in the northland due to the incompetent freaks who fall for this bunk

Unless the "incompetent freaks who fall for this bunk" have somehow forced everyone else to eschew the vaccinations, how are they responsible for an epidemic? Isn't it more likely that the epidemic is being caused by a strain for which the vaccination is innefective?

Serious question, not an attack. This is not my field of expertise.

Oh, and my kids were vaccinated.

Shalom.

199 posted on 04/20/2005 11:44:33 AM PDT by ArGee (Why do we let the abnormal tell us what's normal?)
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To: monday

Most diseases that vaccines are designed to prevent are viruses, which are not affected by antibiotics

Sure, but often it is secondary infections which are the real danger.


200 posted on 04/20/2005 11:44:36 AM PDT by freedomfiter2
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