Not So Sweet! by: Phyllis Zimmerman dzerman2@yahoo.com   What do all the following have in common?  High fructose corn syrup you say?  Most of us know that HFCS is bad stuff for our kids but something even deadlier is lurking in the foods listed below.  Would you believe in order to provide cheap mass quantities of foods the food manufactures are using a process that has delivers a product that is high in fructose corn syrup and are you ready......MERCURY!  That's right, I said mercury.    As most of us in the autism community already know, Mercury is a potent nuero-toxins that damages brain tissue, impaires learning ability's, reduces IQ and is one of the leading substance considered to be one of the major environmental causes of autism.  Science is increasingly suggesting that there is no safe level of exposure to mercury. However we are still knowingly injecting it into our babies* - but  worst yet unknowing ingesting it in the 37 gallons the average American consumes in beverages. It is estimated that the average American consumes about 12 teaspoons per day of  mercury containing HFCS! Yup, HFCS now appears to be a significant additional source of mercury, one never before considered before.   Below is a list of the current foods that are known to contain mercury-grade caustic soda used to process HFCS.   To read the full research and get a detailed understanding of the process as well as what you can do  go to http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refID=105026   MERCURY CONTAINING PRODUCTS 7-Up A & W Root Beer Aunt Jemima Original Syrup Campbell's Tomato Soup Coca-Cola Classic Dr. Pepper Fanta Orange Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red Heinz Hotdog Relish Heinz Tomato Ketchup Hershey's Caramel Syrup Hershey's Chocolate Syrup Hershey's Strawberry Syrup Hi-C Wild Cherry Hunt's Tomato Ketchup Hy-Top Syrup Jack Daniel's Barbecue Sauce (Heinz Jell-O Strawberry Kemps Fat Free Chocolate Milk Kool-Aid Bursts Tropical Punch Kool-Aid Cherry Jammers Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce Land O' Lakes Chocolate Milk Lipton Green Tea Manwich Bold Sloppy Jo Market Pantry Applesauce Market Pantry Cranberry Sauce Market Pantry Grape Jelly Market Pantry Ice Pops Market Pantry Thousand Island Dressing Market Pantry Tomato Soup Minute Maid Berry Punch Mott's Applesauce Mrs. Butterworth Original Syrup Nesquik Chocolate Milk Nesquik Strawberry Milk NOS High Performance Energy Drink Nutri-Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce Pop-Tarts Frosted Blueberry Powerade Orange Quaker Oatmeal to Go Smucker's Strawberry Jelly Smucker's Strawberry Syrup Snapple Peach Iced Tea Sunny-D Tropicana Twister Cherry Berry Blast Welch's Grape Jelly Wish-Bone Thousand Island Dressing Wish-Bone Western Sweet & Smooth Dressing Wyler's Italian Ices Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt Zoo Juice Orange *(Check out this site for mercury [thimersol] conent of vaccines according to manufactures: http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm)

If at First You Don't Succeed, Vax and Vax Again. Here come more vaccine boosters, because everyone knows, if a product doesn't work, you simply give more. From NJ.com. New Jersery, where the flu vaccine is now mandated.  Could the flu vaccine be interfering with the efficacy of the pertussis vaccine? A dozen cases of whooping cough have been found in children since the middle of last month in Hunterdon County, health officials said today. "It is not unusual to have individual cases. It is unusual for us to have this number of cases in this defined time period," said John Beckley, the Hunterdon County health director. All of the infected children had been vaccinated, but Hunterdon officials said the immunity to the vaccine can wane between ages 7 and 9 and that there is no licensed vaccine for children in that age group.  Louise Kuo Habakus, a member of the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice, said girls receive 69 shots by age 18 and boys get 66 during that time. "Our babies and our toddlers receive five pertussis shots until age 5, and that's not enough to protect them at age 7?" she said.  Read more HERE.

y Can't We Face The Truth? Having An Autistic Child Wrecks Your Life...       By Carol Sarler on dailymail.co.uk .  tiny.pl/vcd2       Thanks to a moment of everyday terror, I think I knew before anyone else. My friend's two-year-old had climbed upon a chair from which, with customary toddler clumsiness, he fell.       Like all children, he managed a second of stunned silence - then howled like a banshee. Like all adults, I rushed to pick him up, to cuddle, to soothe.       What was unexpected was his response: visibly fearful of my touch, he kicked my belly, disengaged himself and ran away.       A life sentence: Many parents of autistic children have to give up their jobs to become full-time carers (picture posed by models) I added that to the list I was already mentally composing: no eye contact, ever. Not even with his mum. No shred of attachment to toys, pets, people. Obsessive, repetitive behaviour. Crazed by the sight of other children. Hmm.       By his fourth birthday, still with nappies, but without speech, everyone else knew, too.       Tom was - I mean is, and always will be - autistic. I've been thinking a lot about Tom, who's now seven, as the debate rages over the possibility of a prenatal test for autism, with abortion then optional.       And, so far, most of the argument leans towards such a test being undesirable and unethical.       Brave and devoted mothers - notably Charlotte Moore, whose book, George And Sam, about her two autistic sons, is immensely powerful - have clung to the positives brought into their lives by their children.       Backing the emphasis on the positive have been those who point to the frequently high intelligence of the autistic savant, as if we are talking about phalanxes of Mozarts and Einsteins.       How much poorer we would be without, say, the astonishing brain of Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man! Who would or could babysit this child? Well, maybe. But not as poor as Tom's family: three generations of lives - I include his own - wrecked, for ever, by his cussed condition.       His parents, let us call them Cath and John, bear the brunt. Immediately after diagnosis, she beat herself senseless with blame; so many theories, each making it her fault.       Should she have allowed her son to have had the MMR jab? Was it, as some said, a behavioural disturbance caused by 'bad' parenting? Once, she even convinced herself (from something she'd read) that it was mercury poisoning from eating tuna during her pregnancy.       Theories, however, were soon to defer to practicalities. They strove for a normal life: simple things, such as going shopping together.       But with the best will in the world, how many shops - or, indeed, how many customers - are going to tolerate a child who screams, bites, defecates and destroys everything within reach? Besides, dangers lurk. Last time I bumped into them in a supermarket car park, Tom was bawling hysterically. Why? Because he had seen a bird. So, mostly, Cath and John stay at home.         Both their careers are over - not, as for many with small children, on hold for a few years. Each knows that neither will work full-time again.       There have been attempts with special schools, but none succeeded. Sanity is preserved by each parent having a hobby (fishing and tennis), so one babysits while the other takes a break.       They rarely go out together, for who else - other than one plucky grandmother - would, or even could, babysit this child? + Read more: tiny.pl/vcd2

Eulogy for a Student Managing Editor's Note: In light of Jett Travolta's death and the seizure suffered by Senator Ted Kennedy during the inaugural luncheon, this post represents a real fear held by every parent of a child with seizures. By Kent Heckenlively, Esq. His name was Kevin* (pseudonym) and he was one of my students. He came to my school in October of last year but before he arrived we had a full staff meeting about him.  He had severe seizures and we were instructed that if he had a seizure in our class we should immediately check the clock, and if they persisted for more than 3 minutes we should call 911. Kevin was big for his age, and whether from the seizures, or his medication, often walked like a drunken sailor.  His aide sometimes had a belt attached to him in case he started to fall.  In my science class they put him at a far table, and he often colored while the other children engaged in activities.  But I move around a fair amount in my classes and I always made sure to connect with him.  For better or worse, I consider myself a Son-Rise person when it comes to interacting with people who have autism. That means we think of ourselves as ambassadors of the human race and try to make our world look so inviting that they will want to join it. And it worked with him.  I always got a smile when I came over to ask him a question, or show him something really cool, and when he'd see me around school he'd smile, point to me and say, "I know you!"  It was kind of the code in which we talked.  "I know you, too!"  I'd reply. When you're a teacher, but especially when you're a teacher who sees a lot of students as I do, you often only get the barest glimpse of their lives.  I knew Kevin's father was a doctor, and I'd heard both positive and negative things about him.  I was told he had an on-line newsletter and when I looked at it saw he was one of those questing physicians who considered bio-medical approaches.  I felt Kevin was in good hands. I ran into Kevin and his father at the local organic grocery store one day and approached the two of them.  His father was a tall man in his early fifties, streaks of grey in his hair, with the broad shoulders of an NFL linebacker.  I saw that look in his father's eye, the look of a parent with a disabled child for whom the approach of another person is rarely good news.  It was a look which broadcast that if I said anything out of line he could break me like a twig.  "Hello," I said cheerfully. But before I could say another word, Kevin smiled, pointed at me and said, "I know you.  You're my science teacher."  I replied, "And you're my science student."  I spoke with Kevin's father for a few moments, told him I understood a great deal of what he was going through because of my own child, and shared with him a couple web-sites and books. Kevin left before the end of the school year and I was told he'd been put in an institution.  His aide was critical of the decision, but also knew it wasn't working out for him at school. Last Tuesday Kevin's aide came up to tell me he had died.  I only had about a moment to get information as we were at the end of the fire drill. I probably only interacted with Kevin for not more than a total of 20 hours, but felt like I'd lost a member of my extended family. When I told my wife about it, she replied, "That's why we fight like we do.  It's the only chance our daughter has."  And I know that's true, but there are times when the overwhelming odds we face come home to me.  I know Kevin's father probably fought the good fight, but he still lost. At times like this I fall back on my faith, believing in a better world beyond, but also wondering why sometimes this one is so damned crappy.  I know when I die I'll face my Maker and He/She will ask me many questions about what I did with my life.  I freely confess I won't have great answers for some of them.  But I'll have a few questions as well. Kevin will be one of them. Kent Heckenlively is Legal Editor for Age of Autism.

How to Lift Your Mood? Try Smiling By John Cloud Friday, Jan. 16, 2009 My personal trainer sometimes gives me an odd piece of advice during workouts: "Relax your face." For a long time, I found this advice confusing. Isn't physical exertion supposed to be expressed in grimaces? I thought of the face as a pressure-relief valve that helps emit the pain the body is experiencing. But the trainer suggested I think about it the other way around — that controlling the face can help control the mind. More Related * Skip the Botox. Try Facial Yoga * Bashful is in the Eye Of The Beholder * Facing Realities I was skeptical until I read a paper in the January issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Psychological Association. That paper led me to other papers, and it turns out the trainer is right: The face isn't a pressure-relief valve. It is more like a thermostat. When you turn down the setting, the machinery inside has to do less work. For the whole article: http://www.time. com/time/ health/article/ 0,8599,1871687, 00.htm

UC Davis Study Authors: Autism is Environmental - Can We Move On Now? David Kirby on The Huffington Post I have always said there may be a small percentage of people with autism spectrum disorder (perhaps those with Asperger Syndrome) whose symptoms are a result only of their genetic makeup, with no environmental factors involved at all. But a new study out of UC Davis' MIND Institute says that it's time to abandon science's long, expensive, and not very fruitful quest to find the gene or genes that cause autism alone, without any environmental triggers. "We need to keep (environmental) studies going," Irva Hertz-Picciotto, the co-author of the study and professor of environmental and occupational health and epidemiology at UC Davis, said in a statement. "We're looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and infectious agents on neurodevelopment," Hertz-Picciotto said. "If we're going to stop the rise in autism in California, we need to keep these studies going and expand them to the extent possible." Autism is predominantly an environmentally acquired disease, the study seems to conclude. Its meteoric rise, at least in California, cannot possibly be attributed to that shopworn mantra we still hear everyday, incredibly, from far too many public health officials: It's due to better diagnosing and counting. The autism epidemic is real, and it is not caused by genes alone: You cannot have a genetic epidemic. It really is time that we, as a society, accept that cold, hard truth. "It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," Dr. Hertz-Piccotto said. The study results suggest that "research should shift from genetics, to the host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the environment that are likely at the root of changes in the neurodevelopment of California's children," the statement added. The UC Davis Study, funded in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) found that the rate of autism among six-year-olds in California mushroomed from less than 9 per 10,000 among the 1990 birth cohort, to more than 44 per 10,000 for kids born in 2000. This increase, "cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted," the statement said, "and the trend shows no sign of abating." (It is important to keep in mind that almost every child born in 2000 would have received many vaccines that contained the mercury preservative thimerosal, which was not completely phased out of most - but not all - childhood vaccines until at least 2003.) Of the 600-to-700 percent increase in autism reported in California between 1990 and 2000, fewer than 10 percent were due to the inclusion of milder cases, the study found, while only 24 percent could be attributed to earlier age at diagnosis. There was only one logical conclusion: some thing or things in the environment had to be at play here. I have always said that all environmental factors should be considered in at least some subgroups of autism. This position has been met with considerable ridicule. I believe that opponents are afraid that, if we start looking at toxins like heavy metals, it might one day lead back to thimerosal. Likewise, if we consider live virus triggers, we may have to take another look at the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (which thousands of parents swear was the trigger than sent their children tumbling into autism). Now, it's always been easier and more reassuring to tell ourselves that autism was almost purely genetic, that it was always with us at the rate of 1 in 90 men (1 in 60 in New Jersey) and that, gee, weren't doctors doing a great job these days of recognizing and diagnosis this disorder. This pathetic groupthink has helped create hugely lopsided funding priorities in autism, where genetic studies get lavishly funded, while environmental ones are lucky to even pick up the dollar scraps left behind "Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones," Hertz-Picciotto said. "We need to even out the funding." I agree. Yes, we must continue to look for the susceptibility genes that make some kids more vulnerable to environmental triggers - possibly through a diminished capacity to detoxify themselves. But the sooner our best minds in science and medicine come to grips with the fact that these poor, hapless kids have been exposed to the wrong environmental toxins and/or infectious agents at the wrong time, the sooner we can find out how to best treat what really ails them. It is illogical for us to oppose the study of, say, mercury exposures and autism, because it might somehow implicate thimerosal, and by extension, vaccines. After all, heavy metal studies into autism could very well incriminate background environmental sources, but exonerate metal sources found in vaccines, such as mercury and aluminum. And that would be a good thing for everyone.

Pediatric RN's Letter To President Obama January 9, 2009, Dear President Obama, I would first like to state that, from the onset of your campaign, you have had my full support and trust.  Rarely has an individual inspired such hope in the American people.  Because of your wisdom, intelligence and ability to lead, many of us who had lost faith in our government will now stand with you as we face the tough challenges that lie ahead.  The health crisis that affects this current generation of children is one of those challenges and if not addressed effectively, this problem will greatly impact not only our economy, but take it's emotional toll on families, the country and on future generations of Americans. I have been a pediatric registered nurse for 32 years.  During that time, I have watched as the number of children with chronic conditions such as ADHD, Autism, Asthma, Obesity, Allergies, etc have escalated dramatically.  Many of us in the medical and nursing professions read the studies every day implicating environmental toxicity and poor nutrition as culprits.  Additionally, a growing segment of health professionals, as well as thousands of intelligent, caring, and observant parents, believe that childhood vaccines are partially to blame. Most of us who hold this theory, do not believe that all vaccines are unsafe.  However, the number of vaccines given to a child has doubled since the early 90's.  If you then look at the rising incidence of chronic childhood conditions during that same period of time, as well as listen closely to parent after parent report the decline of their previously healthy child after they received multiple vaccines in one doctor's visit, or received them when their child was sick, it's simply common sense to deduce that there is a connection.   After 10 years as serving as the organizer of the Defeat Autism Now! Conferences where thousands of parents and physicians gather to learn from the world's leading experts on ways to improve the symptoms associated with autism (sometimes to the point of recovery),  I came to the realization that more needed to be done to PREVENT these childhood conditions.  To this end in September 2008, I launched the first Saving Our Kids, Healing Our Planet Green Expo.  In this forum, we bring experts from the fields of nutrition, green living and pediatrics to conduct workshops and presentations for   parents, teachers, physicians, children's therapists etc.to learn effective solutions for minimizing or averting these preventable childhood conditions.  Our intention is to bring these "green" expos around the country including urban areas where often times children are diagnosed late, services are minimal and chances for recovery or even improvement are limited or non existent. Many intelligent parents and health care professionals share my perspective on the role the environment, suboptimal nutrition and vaccines are playing in these escalating epidemics and are  waiting to be of service in helping funders of research and policy makers understand and reverse this health crisis.   I am at your service. Respectfully, Maureen H. McDonnell, RN Saving Our Kids, Healing Our Planet Conference Coordinator