Far-reaching 'Oprah Effect' examined in documentary

After more than a quarter-century as a television titan , Oprah Winfrey 's influence is undiminished.

[Sara]

There is plenty of scientific evidence to support the autism/vaccine link. Do you really think Oprah is going to strike a deal with someone she disagrees with? Why do you think Oprah aired her show live with when she had the two shows discussing autism and vaccines (one with Jenny and one with Katie Wright from Autism Speaks)? Oprah understands the controversy and has looked at the science and came to her own conclusion. Good for Oprah! I'm glad someone can see beyond greed and put the children first.

[Eamon]

Sarah,

would you mind detailing some of the scientific evidence?

[Sara]

Here ya go:
http://www.tacanow.org/medical/studies-about-...

And here is what is wrong with the studies on the opposing side:
http://www.14studies.org/studies.html

Please read beyond the abstracts before making up your mind. T

[Maurine Meleck]

For the Chicago Tribune's latest unfounded slams against the autism communtiy---they cannot go out of business soon enuf for me. I still believe that what goes around, comes around. Farewell.

[Anne Dachel]

See: Bankrupt Chicago Tribune Tells Autism Families to "Go To Zell!"
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/05/bankrupt-c...
The Chicago Tribune continues to ignore the well-credentialed experts like former NIH head, Dr. Bernadine Healy and former Chief Scientific Officer in the UK, Dr. Peter Fletcher, who are calling for more studies and admitting the possibility of a link between unsafe vaccines and the epidemic of neurological disorders among our children.
Anne Dachel
Age of Autism
http://www.rescuepost.com/age_of_autism/

[Alesa]

If you'd like a better and much more informative article on the issue, since the above linked Age of Autism site is filled with quacks and Munchausen by proxy mom's see here:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/com...

[Heidi N]

Science. That's the whole problem. Didn't you see the scientific study that said much of the scientific studies are not reliable. That's one I actually do believe. Forget the science debate and ask the parents of recovered children, the ones who know something because they actually are doing what mainstream says can't be done. They have the answers; they have the results to prove it. I am one of those parents whose children no longer have autism. Fortunately for my chidlren, and for the average tax-payer, after mainstream medical failed, I went to the parents getting results and did what they did. It worked, and wow, now my kids are not discernable from any others, in regular school, no modifications, etc.

Don't take my word for it, go to the autism forums where thousands are recovering their children. It's really sad and unbelievable that mainstream has failed us so miserably. But, actually I am happy about it now, because I have learned so much, that I don't fear diseases any more. It turns out that many are reversible that mainstream is failing at. What do they teach in medical school anyhow, or is it just a business school?

[mean person]

Heidi N wrote:

Science. That's the whole problem. Didn't you see the scientific study that said much of the scientific studies are not reliable. That's one I actually do believe. Forget the science debate and ask the parents of recovered children, the ones who know something because they actually are doing what mainstream says can't be done. They have the answers; they have the results to prove it. I am one of those parents whose children no longer have autism. Fortunately for my chidlren, and for the average tax-payer, after mainstream medical failed, I went to the parents getting results and did what they did. It worked, and wow, now my kids are not discernable from any others, in regular school, no modifications, etc.
Don't take my word for it, go to the autism forums where thousands are recovering their children. It's really sad and unbelievable that mainstream has failed us so miserably. But, actually I am happy about it now, because I have learned so much, that I don't fear diseases any more. It turns out that many are reversible that mainstream is failing at. What do they teach in medical school anyhow, or is it just a business school?

Please tell us all what you did that "worked"! There are thousands of parents and teachers that would love to have that information.

[Eamon]

Sarah@3,

on the first page you quoted a simple google search shows that the DeSoto and Hitlan paper makes a mistake when comparing mercury readings from hair and that from blood.

Most of the rest of the papers make no comment on vaccines - they directly deal with mercury's effect on the brain.

It would have been interesting to see the paper "Thimerosal Disappears but Autism Remains" - despite the cutting of Thimerosal from the majority of American vaccines there has been no appreciable decrease in Autism rates in the US!

The 'fourteen studies' link seems very flaky to me - seeing that they rank their studies by how close to the Generation Rescue ideal they come - not the science. I think it's funny that with most of these studies being published in prestigious journals (Paediatrics, New England Journal of Medicine) the highest score given, out of 40, is 5. Even more unbelievable is that fact that some studies get minus scores on a grading scale of 0 to 40!

This page has a good review of the site:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/04/gen...

[Heidi N]

You are wrong in stating that thousands would love to have that information that don't. They know where to get it. They know the internet has thousands of forums and websites that talk about recovery. They heard Jenny say to go to www.GenerationRescue.org to find practitioners and parents who know how. I have lots of neighbors, friends and teachers and even local doctors that all saw my children go from autism to normal. They still won't do it. Even the local doctors told me they don't have time to learn.

The parents told me the following excuses: "I don't have the time", "I am are already use to the idea of having to take care of them forever", "I can't handle the stress anymore, so I am giving them away to the state" and "Yes, I see that you children were recovered, but I don't think other chidlren can be."

People say they want to know how, but then they make no effort. Apparently people don't believe it, so they don't try. I tell peole all the time, the most important thing is faith. If you believe your children can be recovered, then you will put forth the effort to make it happen. There are many ways. I only treated for pathogens and toxins, adoped one and did the same with her. The pathgoens and toxins take a while to rid, but ridding symptoms starts happening right away.

There are some who try, but are not successful. I inform them what to do, and most do not. The ones who do, actually report back on progress. So, some try but don't know they are really not trying. So, if you want to learn how to recover a child from autism, go to where they are doing it. It's a lot to learn because their organs are too stressed to handle standard prescriptions, but a nice, gentle, slow approach to ridding pathogens and toxins is working. The pathogens most getting the blame are Brucella, lyme, Bartonella, mycoplasma, visna virus, HHV6, measles, varicella, borna, epstein-barr, CMV, yeast, clostridia diff. and worms/protozoa. Many of these pathogens will not show up on standard lab testing for reasons I won't go into here, but they do show up after the person is well enough to again produce antibodies. Go to the forums and websites on recovery and learn all this. I did. I have told all those around me. None of them living around me has done anything about it. But, there are thousands on the Internet who all listen to each other and thousands have been recovered.

mean person wrote:

<quoted text>
Please tell us all what you did that "worked"! There are thousands of parents and teachers that would love to have that information.

[Heidi N]

You're right in saying that it's funny that these articles have not been published in the so-called prestigious journals like the New England Journal of Medicine. Here is a news article concerning the really not-so-prestigious NEJM and one can easily figure out why such things would not be published in such a journal upon reading this article and clicking the link inside the article.

http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2009/05/corru...

If you click the link inside this news story, you will be given many reasons as to why us parents who have successfully recovered our children from autism, of which I am one, learned how from other parents instead of mainstream doctors. This is really a shame.

Eamon wrote:

Sarah@3,
on the first page you quoted a simple google search shows that the DeSoto and Hitlan paper makes a mistake when comparing mercury readings from hair and that from blood.
Most of the rest of the papers make no comment on vaccines - they directly deal with mercury's effect on the brain.
It would have been interesting to see the paper "Thimerosal Disappears but Autism Remains" - despite the cutting of Thimerosal from the majority of American vaccines there has been no appreciable decrease in Autism rates in the US!
The 'fourteen studies' link seems very flaky to me - seeing that they rank their studies by how close to the Generation Rescue ideal they come - not the science. I think it's funny that with most of these studies being published in prestigious journals (Paediatrics, New England Journal of Medicine) the highest score given, out of 40, is 5. Even more unbelievable is that fact that some studies get minus scores on a grading scale of 0 to 40!
This page has a good review of the site:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/04/gen...

[Eamon]

@Heidi N

Sorry, that is rubbish.

If you, and Jenny McCarthy actually had a method of reversing autism scientists would be the first to cry for information. The information is not given.

Tell us, Heidi - how did you child(ren) get recovered from autism?

Would you be willing to contribute to a scientific study so that other children could be cured?

Would you allow the judgement of the scientific community on the efficacy of said autism treatment?

Eamon

[Heidi N]

Did you forget to read what I posted or are you just anti-recovery not matter what?

Eamon wrote:

@Heidi N
Sorry, that is rubbish.
If you, and Jenny McCarthy actually had a method of reversing autism scientists would be the first to cry for information. The information is not given.
Tell us, Heidi - how did you child(ren) get recovered from autism?
Would you be willing to contribute to a scientific study so that other children could be cured?
Would you allow the judgement of the scientific community on the efficacy of said autism treatment?
Eamon

[Eamon]

Heidi N wrote:

Did you forget to read what I posted or are you just anti-recovery not matter what?
<quoted text>

This is what you posted:
"I only treated for pathogens and toxins, adoped one and did the same with her. The pathgoens and toxins take a while to rid, but ridding symptoms starts happening right away."
Funnily enough you did not tell us [i]how[/i] you treated them...

[Eamon]

Heidi N wrote:

You're right in saying that it's funny that these articles have not been published in the so-called prestigious journals like the New England Journal of Medicine. Here is a news article concerning the really not-so-prestigious NEJM and one can easily figure out why such things would not be published in such a journal upon reading this article and clicking the link inside the article.
http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2009/05/corru...
If you click the link inside this news story, you will be given many reasons as to why us parents who have successfully recovered our children from autism, of which I am one, learned how from other parents instead of mainstream doctors. This is really a shame.
<quoted text>

And funnily enough, on clicking the link I find a well reasoned piece on how drug companies distort tests for their drugs - but nothing to do with vaccines. I agree that drug companies produce twisted results for their big name drugs - and as recounted in Ben Goldacre's book 'Bad Science', so do the doctors. However, the efficacy of vaccines are not in question.

The shame is that you think you're better qualified to judge medical matters than professionals who have devoted a large part of their lives to medical study, research, and practice.

If your car was acting up you'd take it to someone qualified to fix it. For some reason you think that if your child is ill they shouldn't be seen by a qualified person.

As for 'learning from other parents'- are you willing to let us know exactly what miracle treatment you learnt from them?

[Eamon]

Sara wrote:

Here ya go:
http://www.tacanow.org/medical/studies-about-...
And here is what is wrong with the studies on the opposing side:
http://www.14studies.org/studies.html
Please read beyond the abstracts before making up your mind. T

By the way - the first link you gave me would rate pretty low on the Generation Rescue's "Asked the Right Question" scoring system - as they don't seem to "actually contemplate the real world example of a parent vaccinating their child with 5 or more vaccines and then seeing a regression into autism afterward"

Also, Herbert and Vargas, two of the researchers quoted on that first link of your have publically disagreed with the Generation Rescue mercury-autism link theory: http://autismdiva.blogspot.com/2005/11/genera...

[Heidi N]

You just want to argue for the sake of arguing. If you want to know how to recover children, all you have to do is go to the thousands of websites and forums that tell you how. Start by googling, "recovery autism". If you just want to argue, the you wil stick around here poking fun at things that people say.

Eamon wrote:

<quoted text>
And funnily enough, on clicking the link I find a well reasoned piece on how drug companies distort tests for their drugs - but nothing to do with vaccines. I agree that drug companies produce twisted results for their big name drugs - and as recounted in Ben Goldacre's book 'Bad Science', so do the doctors. However, the efficacy of vaccines are not in question.
The shame is that you think you're better qualified to judge medical matters than professionals who have devoted a large part of their lives to medical study, research, and practice.
If your car was acting up you'd take it to someone qualified to fix it. For some reason you think that if your child is ill they shouldn't be seen by a qualified person.
As for 'learning from other parents'- are you willing to let us know exactly what miracle treatment you learnt from them?

[Eamon]

Heidi N wrote:

You just want to argue for the sake of arguing. If you want to know how to recover children, all you have to do is go to the thousands of websites and forums that tell you how. Start by googling, "recovery autism". If you just want to argue, the you wil stick around here poking fun at things that people say.
<quoted text>

No Heidi, don't try to shift the goalposts, tell us: How did you reverse the effects of autism in your child?
Was it chellation? Chemical castrations? Diet? Prayer?
As for 'poking fun'- you must have quite an imagination, as I can't see where I was doing so in this range of comments