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A news analysis of U.S. health data links children's attention-deficit disorder with exposure to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables.   

While the study couldn’t prove that pesticides used in agriculture contribute to childhood learning problems, experts said the research is persuasive.   

The concept is that children, being smaller humans than adults, may be absorbing higher levels of pesticides, which are measurable in the urine.  The concept of 'body burden' has been introduced once again in the ongoing argument that exposing our children to toxic compounds in the environment is actually harming their nervous and immune systems.  The kids with higher levels had increased chances of having ADHD and in fact, as we see in practice every day, Autism Spectrum Disorders of all types.  These toxins can be ingested through fruits, vegetables and foods, or by drinking or inhaling them from the air. This information can account for the inordinate increase in the ADHD diagnoses over the past 30 years.  It is also important to realize that studies have looked at pregnant women and the amount of toxic chemicals they excrete.  This clearly affects the fetus while in utero and may also account for the epidemic at hand.   

I have no doubt that we will begin to hear from the 'nay-sayers' who will come up with some reason to disbelieve what is so obvious to most of us.  However, the best we can do is to work to NOT pollute our food supply any more than necessary.  Be careful of eating organic foods thinking that they are all pure and free of toxins. I always think it important to find out what was in the ground or surrounding environment BEFORE the organic farmer moved in.  The toxins remain in the ground for many years and will still be absorbed by the new plants so do your due diligence and find out as much as possible.  Skeptics are criticizing organic foods.  Many of them are backed by agricultural concerns that stand to lose a lot of money if consumers stop buying their toxic products.  Changing labels, packaging and TV advertisements are not the answer to prevention.  They only serve to fool the public!! 

At least the EPA recognizes this study as reliable and well conducted.  "It's unpardonable to allow this exposure to continue," said Margaret Reeves, senior scientist with the Pesticide Action Network, an advocacy group working to end the use of many pesticides.
 
 
C.F. mother of Jack, now 5 years old, previously non-verbal and told by his pediatrician that he would end up in an institution writes about Jack's reference to chelation from his perspective:
Jack is riding his jeep power wheels on the front lawn today, he took his Sesame Street dolls for the ride. At one point Elmo fell out and Jack ran him over.  Jack put him back in the jeep and said "I'm sorry Elmo, we better get you to Dr. Elice. You get boo-boo on your hand and then you all better!".  :)
 The boo - boo on your hand Jack was referring to is the IV infusion site done with a butterfly needle as in a simple blood test - with medications to detoxify or remove heavy metals from Jack's body.  He is truly a poster boy for chelation since he went from non-verbal autistic child to  non-stop talking about all the things 5 year olds talk about and more!  Another parent testimonial attesting to the benefits of detoxification of children in a very toxic world.


 
 
New book of practical biomedical, nutritional and educational therapies  - a must read!

Dr. Boris and I have contributed 3 chapters to this book along with other well known physicians treating patients on the autism spectrum.

I received my first copy last week and am very impressed with the volume of information written in a scientific yet practical way for most parents to understand. 

Check your local booksellers and amazon.com to get your own copy.  We have copies for sale in our office as well.
 
 
"BIG REX AND FRIENDS" book sold at Barnes & Noble, Toys'R'Us, Amazon, Borders and other retailers, has a red plastic dot sewn in the book which contains high levels of lead which is toxic if ingested by children.

THE PAPYRUS brand children's greeting cards were sold with a wooden bead bracelet attached to the front contains paint with high levels of lead, which is toxic if ingested by children.

FAF INC. metal necklaces sold at Wal-Mart contain high levels of cadmium, which is toxic if ingested by young children.

AND THEY SAY THAT AUTISTIC CHILDREN ARE NOT AFFECTED BY TOXINS!!

FOR MORE RECALL INFORMATION GO TO WWW.AAPNEWS.ORG
 
 
Pediatrics. Vol 125, No. 2. Feb 2010
The authors from the  Psychosocial Department and Department of Gastroenterology,University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
concluded that behavior problems are common in children who have constipation and are referred to gastrointestinal outpatient clinics, suggesting that a behavioral screening should be incorporated into the diagnostic workup of children with constipationl.

And "they" say that abnormal gastrointestinal function has nothing to do with autism!
 
 
 February 27, 2009

I was invited by the family of my 5 year old patient, JT, a lovely boy on the spectrum to fly to the MEDRA clinic in the Dominican Republic. He is healthier than ever yet still has expressive language issues.

Stem cell transplantation is on the horizon as a possible treatment or cure for many autoimmune disorders.  The difference in this case is that the cells transplanted by simple IV infusion are derived from an aborted fetus.  I spent time speaking with Dr. William Rader MD, from California who runs this clinic.  Since the use of cells derived from an abortus is illegal in the US, Dr. Rader has established clinics in the Dominican Republic and Mexico to serve patients around the country.  He has performed over 1500 of these infusions during the past 15 years. Approximately 60 have been on autistic patients. 

I am anxiously awaiting clinical changes in JT.  I dont expect any results for at least 8 weeks.  I will write as soon as I hear anything.  Stay tuned..........
 
 
Finally, in the February 25th New York Times oped page, Nicholas Kristof writes a column about toxins and their likely connection to the autism pandemic we are witnessing.  He says "what we dont know CAN hurt us."  Truer words were never spoken, I say.

In his piece he discusses the obvious connection of brain development and intrauterine exposure to toxins.  Concern about toxcins in the environment used to be a fringe view.  But alarm has moved into the medical mainstream.  Toxicologists, endocrinologists and oncologists seem to be the most concerned.  AND ME of course, the pediatrician whose hands have been raised asking the same questions for the past 7 or 8 years.

"Breast cancer, prostate cancer, AUTISM are three examples of diseases that are increasing in the population that we have no known cause for."  Although Mr, Kristof focuses on phtalates primarily there are over 80,000 known chemicals in our environment about which we know little of their potential toxicity to the human body.

I am anxious to read the upcoming artical in Current Opinion in Pediatrics written by Dr. Philip Landrigan, professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  Dr. Landrigan is increasingly confident that autism and other ailments are, in part, the result of the impact of environmental chemicals on the brain as it is being formed.

I encourage all of you to read this paper and consult doctors who can deal with this problem as a possible cause of your childs problems.
 
 
In this months AAP News (the official newletter of the American Academy of Pediatrics) a recent article in The Lancet- "More study needed on antipyretics' effect on vaccine resonses" was reviewed.  This article has caused confusion cioncerning the common practice ofrecommending prophylactic antipyretics sucha s acetaminophen (Tylenol) to children prior to or within 24 hours of receiving their immunizations to prevent fever and discomfort (Prymla R, etal. Lancet, 2009;374:1339-1350)

When I was practicing general pediatrics, I recommended this preventative practice to all my patients.  My son, in fact, was one of those kids who always ran high fevers (103-104 F) after routine immunizations.  Apparently the study in two randomized controlled trials concluded that antibody response was diminished in response to some of the the vaccines that were administered if acetaminophen (or paracetamol in England and Europe) was given prophylactically to reduce fever and discomfort from the vaccines. It was also concluded that despite having statistically significant differences in the antibody response, the children had what would be considered protective levels of antibodies to all of the antigens given during the primary and booster series doses.

My question is, knowing that acetaminophen inhibits the production of glutathione, the major detoxification agent on which our immune systems rely, is it possible that this reduction in immune response to the vaccines may also extend to a reduction in the immune response to other immune system stressors; eg: toxins, foods, inhalant pollens, medications etc. Unlike the authors of the study who felt that "for the individula child it is unlikely that prplylactic antipyretics would have any detrimental effect," I wonder if that is true for all children taking antipyretics like Tylenol for any reason.  The authors do raise the concern that universal use of prophylactic antipyretics might have some implications for the community if the decreased level of antibody resonse has an effect o9n the frequency of development of the carrier state or transition.  

I wonder???
 
 
In the forefront of medical coding news, the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome is about to be dropped from the DSM IV listings and rolled up into the categoryof 'autism spectrum disorder."   Well, Asperger's is an autism spectrum disorder!  The feeling is the diagnosis is misleading and invalid.  Maybe all of these diagnoses, which essentially describe what the patient is like but not WHY they are that way, should be dropped.  What is PDD-NOS anyway??  Most of these terms are merely descriptions of behaviors without getting to the root of the problem.  This is where investigation into mitochondrial function, central nervous system and immune system functions need to be investigated.  

As the author says about her daughter, diagnosed at age 3 years, "we no longer need the diagnosis of Asperger's disorder to reduce stigma And my daughter does not need the term Asperger's to bolster her self-esteem. Just last week, she introduced herself to a new teacher in her high school health class. "My name is Isabel," she said, "and my strength is that I have autism."
 
 
As a pediatrician reading this study back in 1998 I was shocked that someone had found evidence of measles virus living in the intestinal cells of children on the autistic spectrum.  As a neophyte in the field of autism then, the article made me think a little about the vaccines that were preventing 3 of the so called "usual childhood diseases" that we all contracted.  So routine were these viruses that when I contracted one, my brother and all my friends were moved into my room so that they could catch it and be done with the process for life.

The purpose of vaccinating against these viruses was to prevent the 1 in 100,000 chances of measles encephalitis, mumps orchitis leading to sterility in male children and rubella or german measles which could be devastating to a pregnant mom and her fetus.  While these viruses were known to have these consequences, there were no studies to corroborate their safetey or the remote possibility of adverse sequellae we are trying to address.  In fact, the original measles virus vaccine dating back to the 1950's was insufficient to provide life long immunity thus leading the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend and ultimately require a second vaccination before college entry and prior to entering kindergarten.

There was never any question as from whom Dr. Wakefield received his funding. Is funding from anti-vaccine lawyers and parents any different than funding from pharmaceutical companies who promote many drugs without adequate testing on children? Is it any different than drug companies pushing swine flu vaccine with many known potentially toxic adjuvants on pregnant mothers and 6 month olds without adequate testing?

In truth, I am not anti vaccine.  What I am against is the notion that we should believe everything we hear that is perpetrated by drug companies and the congress who is lobbied  by drug companies. In fact, thanks to Dr Wakefield's work and the work of others in the autism community, we have learned about the high incidence of  inflammatory bowel/irritable bowel syndromes affecting the large percentage of patients on the autism spectrum.  Regardless of the coincidental findings of bowel disease, measles viruses inhabiting the bowel, lymphonodular hyperplasia in the ileum or the fact that most of our patients dont even know what a normal bowel movement is, it is important to stay on task to determine which of our patients is susceptible to these issues and what the genetic and environmental triggers are at play in determining bowel problems.

Yes, Lancet retracted the study as being biased. However, there are many studies that seem to be biased in favor of continuing the path we are on; the one where autism is increasing exponentially and pediatricians like me are scratching our heads trying to solve this mystery.