The
Age of Autism: Feedback on the Amish Parts 1 & 2
Dan Olmsted, United Press International, June 14 & 16,
2005
Read the series of articles "The
Age of Autism" - click here.
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
Readers of this
column have reacted strongly to our series of reports on autism
among the Amish. So far, we have found only a handful of cases
of autism and have quoted some experts who think it is nearly
non-existent in this group.
Below are comments from readers who dispute the idea there might
be proportionately fewer Amish with autism. Others argue that
even if there are, it proves nothing.
A number of readers said the series seemed to implicate vaccines
unfairly as a cause of autism, because the Amish have a low
vaccination rate. Some parents of autistic children, along with
a minority of experts, suspect that a mercury-based preservative
called thimerosal used in vaccines through the 1990s could have
triggered an autism epidemic, though most mainstream researchers
reject the premise.
It is worth noting we quoted people who raised the issue of
childhood immunizations, as well as the possibility that
environmental mercury exposure could be a factor, but we have
drawn no conclusions about what might account for a lower autism
rate among the Amish -- if in fact that is the case.
A selection of responses:
I have followed your series of articles with interest.
They all sound a similar note, that you have investigated and
not found significant numbers of autistic children among the
Amish, so you assume that it's because the population generally
isn't exposed to childhood vaccinations with the preservative
thimerosal.
I'm not a scientist, but this seems like an awfully unscientific
approach. There is no way to determine whether you are reaching
a representative sample of Amish. More troubling, if you'll
forgive me, is that you can't control for any of the other
variables. The Amish lifestyle, and for that matter the gene
pool of this smaller and somewhat isolated population, is
different than ours. There must be scores of differences in
environmental exposures including the food they eat, the water
they drink, other medications they take or don't take, exposure
to industrial toxins, pesticides, physical activity patterns,
and the like.
Discovering the cause of autism in our society is an important
and pressing task. Unless the true cause is discovered,
prevention and treatment cannot be effected. With all due
respect, I'm not sure that speculation like this advances the
cause.
-0-
I think your approach makes a wonderful case for there being
almost no Amish autistics. It's unfortunate that many people
don't have critical thinking skills and will look at this all as
proof that the government doesn't care about them and that it's
all a conspiracy ... and in the end will either not vaccinate
their kids, thimerosal or not, or will delay vaccinating them
significantly enough to endanger them.
I hope when you are finished you will follow outbreaks of
vaccine-preventable diseases. There's a serious rubella (German
measles) outbreak in Ontario right now that started in a
religious community which, like the Amish, has low rates of
immunization. The thing about this is that it's not staying in
the religious community, it's spreading and may cause the deaths
of unborn babies and severe disabilities in them if they are
exposed to rubella (in the womb).
Interestingly, rubella infections like this are a minor cause of
autism. Maybe it will become a more common cause of autism.
-0-
I think the factor you're not capturing is that the Amish are a
genetically homogeneous population, and virtually everyone
acknowledges that autism has a genetic component. If there truly
is little to no autism in that community, it would appear that
the genes just aren't in their pool.
Also, there are any number of lifestyle and environmental
differences that preclude a leap to the conclusion that their
low vaccination rate has something to do with the incidence of
autism.
-0-
You are misleading the entire autism community. ... To publish
findings requires a lot more than asking a community to e-mail
you and claiming no occurrences when you don't get a response.
Shame on you!
-0-
Note that the Amish are a basically "closed" population. (When
was the last time an "English" married into the Amish? I don't
know the answer, but I'm guessing it's rare, if not
nonexistent.) If they didn't have the autism "gene" (if there is
such a thing) 100 years ago, they probably don't have it now.
This is the
Second of Two Columns Sharing Reader Response to Our Exploration
of Autism Among the Amish.
The first part, published Tuesday, was devoted to criticism and
caveats about such an approach -- which so far has turned up
only a handful of cases of autism in the Amish population of the
United States. Several of those cases occurred in the distinct
minority of Amish children who have received immunizations. Four
others were attributed by their doctor to exposure to
environmental mercury.
Some parents and a minority of medical experts think vaccines --
in particular, a mercury-based vaccine preservative called
thimerosal -- triggered a huge rise in U.S. autism cases in the
1990s; that theory is rejected by most mainstream medical
groups. Thimerosal was phased out of vaccines beginning in 1999.
Today's column hears from readers who think "The Amish Anomaly,"
as we called it in the first report, is significant.
-0-
I Have to Tell You That I Read Your First Article and I Cried
Like a Baby -- Like I Haven\'t Cried in a Very Long Time. Those
of Us That Are "English" (Non-Amish) Already Know What This
Article Drove Home to Me in the Most Earth-Shaking Way. This Was
Done to Our Kids. My Son Didn't Have to Be So Autistic. We Didn't
Have to Have Every Moment of Our Lives and Every Cent We Will
Ever Make Dedicated to Saving Our Son's Life. It is Just More
Than I Can Even Bear at Times, Knowing It Could Be Stopped and
Knowing There Are Children out There Right Now That We Are Going
to Lose Because of This.
-0-
My son just turned 8 and has made a lot of progress. We have
done everything biological possible (but the money keeps running
out) and he does a home Applied Behavior Analysis program. Three
years ago he couldn't show you even four body parts and now he
is doing simple math.
-0-
I am humbled every day by the strength of his conviction to
learn and to talk.
-0-
While I Agree with Several of Your Readers Who Protest the "Unscientificness"
of Your Series of Articles on the Rate of Autism in the Amish (a
Fact That Was Acknowledged at the Outset), at the Same Time, It
is Not As if There is Nothing More to Indicate Mercury As a
Significant Factor (if Not the Culprit) in the Relatively Recent
Explosion of Autistic Diagnoses Than the Say-So of a Handful of
Unscientific People.
-0-
We have the recent study completed at the University of Texas
that indicates that areas with mercury pollution have a higher
incidence of autism. There was the teething powder with calomel
that caused Pink's disease (and took them 60 years to figure out
the mercury connection). Mercury was eliminated from use in
latex paint, in the making of hats, as a fungicide on seed --
and pulled off the shelf as merthiolate. It is too dangerous to
allow for topical uses. Why would it be safe for internal use?
-0-
To say that there is no legitimate reason to suspect that
thimerosal is a major cause, if not the cause, of autism is
incredible to me. True there could be other factors involved and
we know that there are other potential causes of autism, but
given the knowledge and evidence that we already have to date
regarding mercury, directly injecting it into the bloodstream of
newborn infants -- especially when it is not even necessary --
is surely something approaching insanity.
-0-
I Hope That Medical Professionals Find Your Investigations
Compelling Enough to Research Further.
-0-
I Have Been Asking Myself That Question -- Why Aren't the Amish
Afflicted? I Am the Mother of a 7-Year-Old Autistic Son and Live
in Pennsylvania. I Have Been Exposed to the Amish My Whole Life.
-0-
It seems at least once a week somewhere I go I see an autistic
child or at least someone who has an autistic child. But never
have I seen that in the Amish community.
-0-
I'm not one of those parents that are convinced that
immunizations are the cause. But it seriously makes me wonder
when, from what I heard, they do not get immunized or at least
not as much.
-0-
Its not like they don't eat the same food as us -- I see them at
Wal-mart buying the same stuff. So beside them having a purer
bloodline, there is not that much of a difference between us
besides the shots.
-0-
This series begs the question, why the heck isn't Lancaster
County crawling with investigators from the CDC and the
Department of Health and Human Services? If I was Secretary
Leavitt, that place would look like a scene out of "Outbreak."
-0-
Can someone get him on the phone and let him know that this is
perhaps something the government might look into?
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