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Flash 4-05 / Flash 2-05 /Flash 10-04 / Flash 5-04 / Flash 4-04 / Flash 1-04 calendar / senators
investigate mercury / can autism be treated
earlier? Greetings KindTree received great news last week: The
Lane Arts Council has granted us $600 for our "From
the Studio to the Gallery" Art Show expansion. Our
plan is to help artists with classes, tutoring and supplies at
the front end and framing expenses and gallery placement at the
back end. Summer is finally here, sunny and hot, kids in the street, cucumbers on the vine, lightening in the trees. The Art & the Vineyard event in July generated almost $1000 in sales for KindTree and payments of over $450 to artists with autism. You can see their work at First Friday Art Walk coming August 5 downtown. The Oregon Country Fair shared the fun with KindTree in the Community Village, where we share space with many other community activists out to make the world a better place. TR Kelly performed on the CV stage with her brand new "eye contact" hat: her way of giving people "eyes" to look at while she looks away. Too cool. And coming up in August is our 9th Autism Retreat. I hope we see you there. Keep an eye out for President Mary-Minn Sirag in the Register-Guard. Write Anne Williams is preparing a big story about our award winning autism acitivist. Coming soon.... Thanks for listening. Tim Mueller CALENDAR Three Week Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD) Summer Camp July 27 Autism Training from
Mary-Minn Sirag for the ARC July 27, 7PM Scobert Park (near Tiny Tavern in the Whitaker neighborhood) Tim Mueller and Nel Applegate in concert. Free. Folk rock and world beat music. Be there or be somewhere else. Friday, August 5 ,
5 - 8 PM First Friday Art Walk YES!!
filling up FAST
*Shared
Cabins or Tent sites Nan Lester, M.S., of the Asperger Advocacy Coalition is facilitating the following groups at Bridgeway House, 944 Jefferson Street in Eugene: August 6: Exploring Asperger Syndrome is a strength-based diagnostic discussion group for adults (18-up) with Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism to build self-awareness and function. Held the first Saturday of each month from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.. There is no cost for participating but pre-registration is required; call 345-3467 for more information. Starting Tuesday, September 13th: Understanding Asperger Syndrome: A support and diagnostic information group for parents, siblings, family members and caregivers of individuals affected by Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism. Bring your concerns, questions and insights to this open meeting on the second Tuesday of each month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. People of all ages with HFA and AS are encouraged to attend. October 21st, Portland, OR. Dr. Andrew Wakefield,
Dr. Lisa Lewis and Dr. Lori Ernsperger will be presenting on medication
issues with mercury and toxins, dietary suggestions and eating
disorders. October 23, Sunday, 4 - 7PM KindTree's Pre-Halloween Mask and Hat Making Party, Cozmic Pizza "People deserve to have their feelings validated. Saying
'I am exhausted and I feel like no one cares about me' calls for
emotional support and also helpful suggestions for tomorrow. No
one can work themselves to Senators Challenge Bush Administration's New Mercury Rule More Here In an effort to re-focus public awareness of the Bush Adminstration's weak new EPA rule regulating mercury emissions, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) a formal discharge petition this week, aiming to force a floor vote that would require EPA to draft new mercury regulations. [1] Backed by a group of 31 senators, including Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, the resolution has garnered enough support to bypass the jurisdiction of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, an ardent opponent of environmental and public health regulations. In order to pass, the resolution will have to gain a simple majority in both chambers of Congress plus the President's signature. Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Tom Allen (D-ME), Marty Meehan (D-MA), and Henry Waxman (D-CA), have introduced a similar resolution in the House. The sponsors recognize that passage is highly unlikely. But they are hopeful that the effort will at least help to expose the flaws in the new EPA mercury rule, and call further attention to the toxin's harmful affects on human health. Filed under the Congressional Review Act, the resolution provides Congress a seldom-used opportunity to disapprove a federal agency's rule. If successful, the motion would not only send EPA back to the drawing board, it would also prevent the development of a similar rule in the future. If the President vetoes the resolution, Congress could potentially override it. The administration's new EPA rule exempts power plants from the list of polluting sources subject to strict mercury controls. Yet power plants are the largest man-made source of mercury emissions in the U.S., contributing 41 percent of the annual total. [1] By taking power plants off the list, the "delisting rule" led to the establishment of a cap-and-trade program that would limit mercury emissions from 48 tons a year to 38 tons in 2010 and 15 tons in 2018. The "delisting rule" rescinded a 2000 EPA finding that "it is necessary and appropriate" for all power plants to install "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) to reduce mercury and other hazardous emissions. A MACT standard under the existing Clean Air Act would have required power plants to reduce their mercury emissions by about 90 percent by 2008, a decade earlier than the administration's timetable. Critics of the current mercury rule charge that it violates the Clean Air Act, because the EPA removed power plants from the source list without first proving that power plants do not emit hazardous air pollutants at levels that damage human health. Citing the illegal nature of the current mercury rules, Senator Leahy said in a press release, "By revoking the earlier EPA finding and deciding instead to coddle the biggest mercury polluters, the Administration is saying it is no longer necessary or appropriate to adequately control mercury emissions." [2] EPA's mercury rules have drawn lawsuits from 14 states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. The rules have also triggered strong opposition from a broad spectrum of environmental and public health groups, as well as government agencies such as the General Accountability Office, and the EPA's own Inspector General. Mercury is an extremely harmful neurotoxin, yielding serious health consequences for developing fetuses and children. Even low-level exposure has been linked to learning disabilities, lowered IQ, attention and memory damage, and delayed onset of walking and talking abilities. One in six women have levels of mercury in their blood that EPA classifies as unsafe. SOURCES: Study: Autism treatment
could be earlier TORONTO — Infants who make little eye contact, have trouble smiling and aren't very active may be showing signs of autism, Canadian researchers report in a small study that suggests autism could be spotted earlier than it is. If autistic behavior can be spotted as early as 12 months, as the research indicates, it would enable doctors and parents to start effective therapy sooner. Parents currently have to wait until a child is typically 2 to 3 years old to find out if the toddler has the mysterious developmental disability. The study involved 150 infants who already were at high risk of developing autism based on family history. The researchers were from various Canadian hospitals and universities, including the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, York University and the University of Toronto. Families with an autistic child have a 5 percent to 10 percent higher risk of having another child with the condition, a rate of recurrence about 50 times higher than the general population. The research, published in the April-May edition of the International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, was carried out for two years. The team identified a list of common behavioral traits found in the 19 infants who actually went on to develop autism. They found the infants had a lack of eye contact with parents, problems visually following an object and had trouble expressing themselves through facial expressions, such as smiling. They also had problems recognizing their names and lower activity levels than their healthy counterparts when they were as young as 6 months. Dr. Wendy Roberts, a pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children and a team leader, said other pediatricians already were contacting her about possible early autism warnings among their own infant patients. Roberts said there were few programs for potentially autistic children younger than 3, the age at which most cases are typically diagnosed. "It puts pressure on the scientific community to come up with treatments for children under 3," she said. Dr. Catherine Lord, an autism researcher at the University of Michigan, cautioned that while the study is promising, more research involving a larger number of infants needs to be done before doctors could make a firm diagnosis at such a young age. She said the Canadian research should only be used to consider potential risks of autism, and not firm diagnoses. Roberts said that the 19 infants who had all the traits outlined in the study did go on to have autism, a complex developmental disorder best known for impairing a child's ability to communicate or interact with others. Recent data suggest a tenfold increase in autism rates over the last decade, although it's unclear how much of the apparent surge reflects better diagnosis and how much is a true rise. Roberts said infants in the study who had only some of the traits ended up in a "gray area." "They may have autism or it could be a speech-language or
other type of disorder," she said. Study Questions Autism Statistics Are rates rising? Research suggests current data are unreliable By
Serena Gordon
But a new study suggests the way those numbers are estimated may not be a reliable indicator of the true prevalence of autism. The study, which appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, examined frequently cited autism statistics gathered from data from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE), and concluded that such statistics don't paint a true picture of autism prevalence in the nation. According to study author Dr. James Laidler, part of the blame for this discrepancy lies in the fact that each school district has its own criteria for defining autism, and those criteria aren't consistent from school district to school district. "USDE data is not designed and wasn't developed to track autism prevalence, and can't be used to track autism prevalence," said Laidler, who is in the department of biology at Portland State University in Oregon. "I'm not saying there is no autism rise. We can't say whether it's going up, down or staying the same; we need to come up with a better way to track autism." Autism is a developmental disability, and those with the disorder tend to have problems with socialization and communication, according to information from the CDC. They may also engage in repetitive behaviors, and have trouble with changes in their routine. As many as four in 10 people with autism spectrum disorders may not speak at all, according to the CDC. The cause of autism is still unknown, though researchers believe the disorder is probably caused by both genetic and environmental factors. It's not clear how many children are affected by autism. Estimates range from between one in every 166 U.S. children to one in every 500 U.S. children, the CDC reports. To assess the validity of autism prevalence statistics, Laidler looked at USDE data from 1993 to 2003. He chose to begin in 1993 because that's when school districts were first mandated to report autism as a separate disorder. At first glance, it appears as if the prevalence of autism did increase exponentially during this time period, Laidler said. In 1993, less than five children per 1,000 were reported as autistic in USDE data. By 2003, that number was more than 25 per 1,000. But, Laidler questions whether rates of the disorder are actually increasing that quickly, or if a greater public awareness and broader definition of autism is driving the numbers upward. Also, he speculated that inconsistency from one state's definition of autism to another could account for some of the increase. Laidler cited the difference between the state of Oregon's definition for autism and the one used in the neighboring state of Washington. "Washington has a fairly strict criteria compared to Oregon, and their autism prevalence is one-third that of Oregon's, which makes no sense," said Laidler. "Whether autism is caused by genetic or environmental exposure, Washington and Oregon aren't that different." Another trend that suggests the USDE data can't be relied upon for tracking autism prevalence is that the rate of autism keeps going up within each birth-year cohort. For example, even among 16-year-olds the rate of autism is still rising, according to USDE data. That just doesn't seem logical, Laidler said. Craig Newschaffer, director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that he and his colleagues also pointed out this increase by birth-year cohort in a study appearing in the March issue of Pediatrics. What this means, he said, is that "kids aren't being recognized early enough. There's no new incidence at 10 [or 13, or 15, etc.] -- that kids are still acquitting the classification into these older ages is troubling." "The authors are right that these data are not collecting for the purpose of estimating prevalence," Newschaffer said. "Nobody disputes that more kids have the diagnosis and the label, but how much is due to increasing diagnostic and labeling tendencies, and how much is due to risk?," he added. "There are strong views on both sides, but not enough evidence yet to support either belief." To that end, Newschaffer said the CDC is currently gathering autism data from 14 states to get a better handle on the true prevalence of autism. While this approach will also have its limitations, he said, "it should be an improvement." To learn more about autism, visit the National Institute of Mental Health.
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