This week in a New York Times article, the debate continued over the cause and treatment of Autism. A family once united is now divided.

A year after their grandson Christian received a diagnosis of autism in 2004, Bob Wright, then chairman of NBC/Universal, and his wife, Suzanne, founded Autism Speaks, a mega-charity dedicated to curing the dreaded neurological disorder that affects one of every 150 children in America today.

The Wrights’ venture was also an effort to end the internecine warfare in the world of autism — where some are convinced that the disorder is genetic and best treated with intensive therapy, and others blame preservatives in vaccinations and swear by supplements and diet to cleanse the body of heavy metals. — read full article,

But for those of us who don’t know too much about autism…What is autism? What are the sypmptoms of autism?

I thought this was very interesting…

Johnson & Johnson Clears Their Own Product of Autism Link

(as you read keep in mind Big Tobacco’s claims of “no link to lung cancer”)

I am sure that if you have viewed a news source this week you have seen that mercury in vaccines has once again been cleared of any link to autism. Articles also state, “Shows over, nothing to see here, move along now… the grown ups need to talk.”

This study was done in 2005. So why the big release two years later? Some have suggested that it is because the Vaccine Omnibus Hearings that will actually look at the link and make a decision as to the veracity of vaccine safety claimes will start next month.

Billions and Billions of dollars will be lost by corporations if a link is established.

So here is the story behind the story by an actual chemist who understands mercury, and the initial response from SafeMinds, who will be releasing a full review of the study later. — Read this full post at Adventures in Autism

More on this debate from David Kirby at the Huffington Post.

June 21st post - Autism in Room 5

Some witnesses for the U.S. Justice Department are expected to testify in Vaccine Court this week that there’s no such thing as an autism epidemic. They will say that autism is genetic in origin, and that its rate is generally static: about 1-in-150 children. A genetic disorder, of course, has no external “cause,” and nothing in the environment — least of all mercury in vaccines — could be driving autism numbers upward.

Better diagnosis and wider reporting, they say, are really to blame.

But there is a pivotal flaw to this argument: As a genetic disorder that seems to affect all races equally, autism rates should be roughly 1-in-150 in every age group, in every country, in every state, virtually in every town. But they are not.

Just ask the special ed teachers at St. Anthony’s school in Northvale, NJ: not about their students, but about their own kids.

So what does this have to do with vaccine court? Nothing directly, though it does provide evidence to refute the “all genetics, all the time” argument being offered up this week.

And, of course, if elevated mercury levels are detected in the air, soil or water around Room 5 at St. Anthony’s, this could be taken into account by local health officials as a genuine risk factor for autism and other disorders. (I will be following and reporting on this developing story closely),

“If mercury from the environment could potentially harm these kids, then what about mercury from other sources, like vaccines?” Dr. Rosen asked. “There is no reason to think that one form of mercury would cause this neurotoxic effect, but not another.”

See many more posts from David Kirby at Huffington Post.

Immunization rates are rising in many developing countries, but so are the reported rates of autism. In Mexico, for instance, vaccine rates are now about 92%, UN figures show, while reported cases of autism are also moving upward (proof of nothing, but interesting and disturbing nonetheless).

Several well-placed sources have told me that the CDC and FDA will never agree to an outright ban on thimerosal in vaccines, due to pressure from the World Health Organization, and because the message this would send to developing nations would be untenable: “Yes, thimerosal might cause harm, but we are going to give it to you anyway, for your own good. Trust us. We’re Americans. We know what we’re doing.” -- read full post

More on the issue of vaccines on trial over link to autism - from NewScience.com

Theresa Cedillo of Yuma in Arizona puts a human face to the half-million or so American families living with autistic children. Her appearance in a Washington DC courtroom last week, alongside her severely autistic 12-year-old daughter Michelle, left no doubts about the heart-wrenching circumstances of their lives. Now Cedillo's lawyers are hoping to sow just enough doubt in the minds of judges to persuade them that, contrary to prevailing scientific opinion, Michelle's condition may have been triggered by her childhood vaccinations.

Nearly 5000 families have a stake in the trial, which opened on 11 June before the US Court of Federal Claims. Their goal is to gain access to a $2.5-billion government fund set aside to compensate people harmed by vaccination. But the families, aided by a small band of doctors and scientists, will only succeed if they can show it is more likely than not that the tiny amounts of mercury once present in childhood vaccines can cause autism.

My feelings on the issue of what causes autism. Even though I don’t know too much about autism, I do know a bit about how genetics plays a roll in a disease process. Scientist are now able to find genetic markers for many diseases, but simply having a marker does not mean you will get the disease. This is because, there is usually another “trigger” that needs to activate this genetic abnormality.

For example: Why doesn’t everyone who smokes get lung cancer?

It’s believed that a person may be pre-disposed to lung cancer and have cells that will mutate when (or if) they are exposed to environmental carcinogens such at cigarette smoke. This is why it is possible for some people to smoke their entire lives and never get lung cancer, and others who never smoked at all but lived or worked around a smoker could still develop the disease. It’s not just the smoking, but also the genetic disposition that is the true “cause” of the disease.

Other examples: Parkinson’s Disease, Psoriasis, Celiac Disease, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, just to name a few.

It’s my personal observation of the autism debate, that maybe both sides of the debate are correct. It seems to me that it is very likely that a genetic pre-disposition to autism plays a large part in this disease. However, like in many other diseases, there may very well be a “trigger” that causes this genetic abnormality to mutate, and it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to believe this trigger could be a childhood vaccine.

In any case, as in most disease processes, there is usually more than one effective treatment, and many times an effective treatment for one person will not work for another. For this reason it seems to me that all avenues of treatment should be studied whether traditional or alternative, and maybe it will turn out that a combination of these treatments is most effective.

When it comes to our children, I would think that all aspects of causes and treatments should be extensively researched. And lets face it, the more a disease is researched the more outcomes there will be (but as with adult diseases, research doesn’t just stop, more research needs to be done to prove or disprove the previous research, and so on…this is how science works), for many reasons such as how the research was done, or who did the research, and many other factors can affect the outcomes.

I guess what I am saying is...Don't let the research or this debate, polarize the Autism Community, (keep the "unity" in your community). This shouldn’t just be about what side of the debate you are on, or who wins or loses the debate…if this is the case, the real losers of this debate will be the children.

Here is another BlogHer posts on autism...

Autism: The Parent's Perspective

Many BlogHers are blogging on their experiences with autism, here are a few of those blogs...

Play Is The Work

The Karianna Spectrum

Autismland: The Autism Reality Show Starring Charlie

The Family Room

I would be very interested to hear what other BlogHers think about this important issue of autism. How have you been touched by this disease? How do you feel about the ongoing debate? And, if you are blogging on autism, I hope you will leave your link and comments.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope and CatherineBlogs.com