Eli Stone: Causes of Autism Are a Matter of Faith
The episode pitted a beautiful, feisty mom of a child with autism against the power of corporate and legal greed. The mom contends that she saw her child succumb to autism within a week of an injection that contained the corporation's fictional version of thimerosal, "mercuritol."
Mom describes her son's experience and his symptoms in about two sentences, and her description is not particularly compelling. It seems that the worst she can say is that her son is quieter - and now calls her by her first name. No mention is made of any practical issues - financial need, treatments, or outcomes.
She mentions in passing that she did go through the vaccine court, which she calls "just jumping through hoops" - and no mention is made of whether that court found or didn't find any medical evidence whatsoever relative to her son. In fact, no mention is made of any medical evidence existing anywhere at any time.
The sole actual evidence against the corporation are two points: one, a secret study is found, the title of which suggests that the corporation had concerns about the safety of mercuritol. Two: the CEO admits that he would not have his daughter injected with his own product. No one asks him why, and he never actually explains.
Did "mercuritol" cause Ben's autism? There's really no strong evidence that it did. There is even passing mention of studies which demonstrated no relationship between the vaccine and autism.
But Eli, strong in his new faith, puts it to the court as a matter of conscience and belief. He helps them to see that no one really knows anything absolutely and irrevocably. He explains that only a huge settlement will convince the corporation to remove mercuritol from their product. And, by golly, they're moved by Eli's faith, Mom's beauty, and Ben (the son's) implied plight - and award $5.2 million to the plaintiff. Mom, who is as good as she is beautiful, takes only $2 million, and intends to put the rest into a foundation for families of children with autism.
Of course, the show is silly. It's Hollywood, after all. Its characters include a hallucinatory George Michael... a fake Chinese healer... a self-absorbed yet gorgeous girlfriend. I really don't think I'm going to bother watching future episodes - though I'm guessing they'll be cute.
But the little boy who played the part of Ben, the autistic son, was spot on (I've heard rumors that he's actually autistic). And so was the presentation of the autism debate. The coincidental - or not so coincidental - timing of the child's sudden changes, which may or may not have causal significance. The apparently disengenuous behavior of the corporate executives. The critical sense that someone is hiding something - and that that someone owes someone else a great deal of money.
Most significant, to me, was the final word: that a resolution of the question "what causes autism?" is, at least right now, really a matter of what you believe to be true. Do you believe only what you can prove? Or do you believe, with Eli and his client, that some things should be taken on faith?
Iin the real world, pharmaceutical companies did remove most of the thimerosal from most of its products - and so far, there is no evidence that the incidence of autism is declining. By the same token, the process of analyzing medical evidence through the Vaccine Courts is still in process, with thousands of families waiting for the outcome of nine test cases. Thousands of parents do claim that their children literally became autistic before their eyes within hours, days or weeks of a vaccination - and major studies show no correlation between autism and vaccines.
I personally believe that the vast majority of people involved in this debate are telling the truth as they see it. But those truths are in direct conflict with one another. That's where the writers of Eli Stone got it right: today, in the autism community, we are living through what feels almost like an epic battle. Whose truth is truer? Until some as-yet-undefined event provides absolute certainty one way or another, people will continue to take sides based on their beliefs and on the evidence - valid or not - of their own eyes.
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I personally believe that the vast majority of people involved in this debate are telling the truth as they see it. But those truths are in direct conflict with one another. That’s where the writers of Eli Stone got it right: today, in the autism community, we are living through what feels almost like an epic battle. Whose truth is truer? Until some as-yet-undefined event provides absolute certainty one way or another, people will continue to take sides based on their beliefs and on the evidence – valid or not – of their own eyes.
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Very well said. The truth (or should I say truth(s)) will set us free … if we don’t all kill each other first!
I’m a firm believer that most cases of autism are exactly that…autism. My son was born effected by this and continues to remain so…although through a unbelievable amount of blood, sweat, tears and therapy……he has made wonderful advances. There are some cases of children that could be effected by a vaccine, but I do not believe that is autism…it can be a virus that presents it self very similar to autism…10 years from now, this umbrella will be more defined and then we can hopefully get on with ways of improving our kids lives and stop arguing over the causes.
Why is it that when it comes to this topic, the same myths (lies) keep getting repeated over and over and over and over again? Mercury has NOT been removed from most vaccines, as so many people keep insisting. Not only is thimerosal—and I mean twelve to twenty five mcg, which is a toxic amount of thimerosal—present in the vast majority of flu vaccines which are now being recommended for children and for pregnant women, but a google search of ‘thimerosal content vaccines’ will turn up the FDA’s very own website,
http://www.fda.gov/CbER/vaccine/thimerosal.htm
where one only has to scroll down to see, on table 1, that vaccines with high levels of thimerosal are being recommended for children under the age of six. When I spoke on the phone with Pat Harley, of the FDA, she informed me that just because it happens to say, there on the FDA’s own website, that these vaccines are recommended, this doesn’t actually mean, you see, that they are being recommended by the FDA!
If you would like to hear more such absurdities, and find out just exactly what sorts of scumbags are profiting off of the poisoning of your children, read here
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~r_nemeth/clinic_timeline.htm
more about what I learned over the past couple of months, when I tried to find out just what percentage of flu vaccines have dangerous levels of the neurotoxin known as mercury.
it’s always good to see autism getting some kind of media coverage. but it’s kind of troubling the way they (and others) have portrayed autism. of the 100 or so autistic children i have worked with over the years, i have yet to find even one “rain man”. show a 10 year old without language, in diapers, and biting himself so people can get a true view of of the entire spectrum. but kudos for eli stone for bringing up the debate. btw the show was awful and poorly acted, i probably wont watch anymore either.
The truth comes out with your column. You succumbed to the pharmaceutical companies as they must be a big sponsor of your web site. If you can tell me that my son’s extremely high mercury levels were fiction and did not cause neurological disorders, then I know you live in a fictional world. It is sad when writers such as you continue to believe that there isn’t any causal relational between thimerosal and the neurological disorders they have caused with millions of children. I have proof and my son have improved significantly through biomedical treatment, not psychotropic interventions.
Gail – Just so you’re aware, I have no control or involvement with the choice of sponsors for About.com, which is part of the New York Times Company.
But I have to ask: where exactly did you see anything saying I don’t believe you? I have tried my very best to point out that there are two competing views of truth, and that neither has been “proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
If you would be kind enough to point out where I said otherwise, I’d appreciate it (though of course if you break my sentences in half or take them out of context I’m sure you can find bits and pieces that appear to support one side or another of the argument!).
Bottom line: I have no idea what causes autism. I suspect that there are many different causes, and many different “autisms.” But as of today, I have no proof to support my theory.
Lisa (autism guide)
Court – I actually did meet a rainman-type teenager once. Interestingly, it was at a program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the young man was a regular attendee. The staff loved him!
He was the only one I’ve ever met who actually looked anything like Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal – but it gave me new respect for Mr. Hoffman’s acting ability.
Lisa (autism guide)
I actually thought the drama was pretty good and if it wasn’t aired the same time as ER, I’d watch it weekly. It’d be interesting to see the next case he takes. I also found it interesting they portrayed a child with autism not stereotypical of what you ever see in the media. The only thing you seen repetitive was the letter blocks. That child I could more relate to in my son at his age now, except my son to this day has never waved goodbye. In a social setting, that’s how my son appears, withdrawn, very silentand in his own world.
The one thing that struck me is how often Elli didn’t believe they would win and said this over and over, and in the end they did on faith. However in the real world in order to have prevention, real prevention and cause you do need the science and not simple faith. Vaccines may only be a trigger that was bound to happen anyway, only vaccines came before other possible triggers. It could be the years of over use of antibiotics or recent use of them prior or after vaccines. It could be many things but without the sciences of why for this, avoiding vaccines and anything else is blind faith. We all could avoid vaccines, fish, the sun and moon and what if autism still happens at an alarming rate?
on a side note Lisa, why does your blog keep changing format??
When you talk about the removal of thimerosal and the lack of a decline in autism cases, I think you miss a point that was skillfully captured in the program (Eli Stone). There is still thimerosal in flu shots that is being pushed very aggressively on children and some other vaccines still have thimerosal in them. Also, children who come into this country from places where high levels of thimerosal are still used are included in the studies. For these reasons, the lack of a drop in autism cases does not disprove the thimerosal link.
I agree with Court- My son is 10 and I have met many children with autism (or mercury poisoned children, as I call them) and I have never met one with special abilities. The media portrayal has convinced us that this is typical, but I think it happens because it is more interesting to see someone with extraordinary skills than the reality- a child who cannot communicate at all and cannot use the toilet independently. We pay a price for media portrayal- they have to sell it to people who believe that Rainman was typical.
Last Saturday a very sympathetic woman asked me what my son’s special skill was. I realized that she had fallen for the Rainman Effect, and I finally joked that he was pretty good at wearing out DVD players. She looked at me sympathetically, like I was too thick to figure out his special talent after ten years!
Overall, I was impressed by the number of details the writer got right.
I was thrilled to finaly see a show that portrayed autism spectrum disorer in a “higher functioning light.” clearly affected and seemingly smart so close and yet so far from people in a nuerotypical sense.
Where I live I worry people will only think of autism in one way because they are only exposed to the graphic side of autism in commercials and not the true spectrum.
I’m sorry I didn’t miss a point, Eli missed a point that this flu season, 10 to 12 million doses Thimerosal free were/ are available this 07/08 flu season. My 8 year old got one of those Thimerosal free shots. Thimerosal free vaccines have been available since the removal of Thimerosal from childhood mandatory vaccines, in all states. And besides that, we had never been pushed to ever get flu shots by our Peds doc. No one knows the statisics of just who even got the flu vaccines in relationship to autism.
Savant abilities is only about 10 percent of those diagnosed with autism. The majority do not have savant abilities.
Thimerosal isn’t my concern regarding the autism/vaccine link that so many parents of children with regressive autism report. It’s no longer a preservative in most vaccines. But current vaccine schedules are dangerous. Many children become ILL following vaccines with fever, seizures or both. Often parents called pediatricians concerned about the symptoms only to be told “it happens with some kids”. So often the rest of this story is regression, loss of words, withdrawal, stemming behavior.
Vaccines are certainly important for preventing epidemics, but we are increasingly giving too many (including too many combinations at once), too early and following up with often needless boosters when titers are not drawn to determine immunity before boosters are given. “First do no harm” equates currently in mainstream medicine to “follow big pharma’s recommendations without researching the dangers of overloading the immune systems of children genetically susceptible to regressive autism”. Until the medical community becomes serious about studying all possible links (including autoimmune and overloading the immune system), conventional medical practitioners will increasingly be seen as the unwitting enemy. Blundering, educated ostriches with heads in the sand. Please, instead, work for safer vaccine schedules and doses.
Sorry ran out of space.
I also would like to interject that I too have done lab tests on our child…the results left us pondering.
I am from the camp of this is a spectrum disorder for a reason..
Maybe some are born with a sensitivity/lack of detoxification that typicals have. How else could his lab tests come out so odd twice at different labs?
Why not just test for SENSITIVITY in people before it is given?
Lets study that too.Regardless of an autism/mercury reaction.That is only part of the mystery about autism spectrum disorders.
If we could test for reactions/sensitivity we could save alot of OTHER lives to, after all in the fine print it reads…possible reactions……..
They should test for sensitivity prior. My mom had a test that injected iodine, well, who knew she was deathly allergic to it? They don’t test prior to allergies to iodine, and they should even though few are allergic to it. My son had labs after the fact, nothing was there that shouldn’t had ben but a few things we did discover that we wouldn’t had known, but those things could be of any person, not just of kids with autism.
The majority of flu vaccine doses available are not thimerosal-free.
Dr. Fred King~ well, that’s why you request them, and not assume. call around asking who has them. I did, the clinic we go to had them. I know of quite a few all around the USA that had Thimerosal free vacs for their kids. Even if the flu vac is very aggressively pushed, up until one state recently, it’s still a parental choice. No one is forcing anyone to get it.
No childhood mandatory vaccine has Thimerosal in it other than a trace amount.
In the original article yhe author said:
“In the real world, pharmaceutical companies did remove most of the thimerosal from most of its products – and so far, there is no evidence that the incidence of autism is declining.”
My point was that thimerosal is STILL being injected into kids, so no one should expect a decline in autism cases or see the lack of a decline of cases as disproof of the link between autism and thimerosal. The last post makes my point- you have to REQUEST the thimerosal-free flu shots. Given the misinformation most parents have about it being removed, it is not surprising that most don’t make that request. As far as “only a trace” being in the shots now, that’s all that was ever in there in the first place.
The last poster also says that “No childhood mandatory vaccine has Thimerosal in it other than a trace amount.” They never HAD more than a trace amount. If you want to see what “only a trace” of mercury does to a developing nerve cell, there is a great video of it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8nSn5Ezd8
Dr. Fred King~ are you implying that childhood vaccines only ever had trace amounts of Thimerosal in them to begin with?
As much as vaccinea have been in the news, and articles and news casts about the flu vaccines and their choices for kids, I would bet most parents are aware there is a choice. however most do not even get the flu vaccines to begin with. autism rates are not based on that aspect of vaccines anyway, only this fictional show was.
“I personally believe that the vast majority of people involved in this debate are telling the truth as they see it.”
So what? There’s a mound of uncontroverted scientific evidence against the existence of a causal link between vaccinations and autism. Why haven’t the conspiracy theorists come up with *any* scientific evidence? This issue is simply the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
First, I would like to applaud ABC for having the guts to air something like this. I have an 9 year old son with autism, and I know that the measles and hepatitis B vaccine(by the way, he recieved this vaccine the same day he was born) brought on his autism. A baby doesn’t even have an immune system yet! Our doctor told us that some kids are born with a predisposition to develop autism which is brought on by “environmental triggers”. They found measles antibodies in his system. And this is not normal. When a child recieves a vaccine. The body is normally supposed to break it down and eventually get rid of it. True, some autism is genetic (the passive, quiet kind)but neither I, nor my husband have anyone in our family history with any form of autism. My son suffered everyday, with horrible tantrums, night terrors, and a severe speech impediment.They also found mercury in his blood (I wonder how that got there).He was born a strong healthy baby, then at about 2 years, he lost all his speech and motor skills and awareness of everything. Then his and our nightmare began.All I have to say, is that Thank God we found this doctor and he is progressing beautifully now. The burden of proof is on the vaccine makers to prove it DOESN’T cause autism. Not to
I think “Law and ORder: SVU” once had an episode portraying a young autistic girl who was non-verbal and did not make eye contact. Her parents were missing and the detectives had to piece together how to help the child and put the pieces together to find the parents. I do not believe the young actress was autistic, but her behavior certainly came closer to mimicing the way my own son behaves at home.
Just a note, the boy who played the autistic son, IS autistic himself.
I thought the anti bodies was called titers and if that number was high enough you wouldn’t need the booster. I think you are suppose to have those measles anti bodies there and if you didn’t, then you know there was no immunity against the measles
You people and your conspiracy theories make me sick. Your “facts” are complete fabrications, your allegations are nothing short of slanderous falsehoods, it just absolutely disgusts me. Even your own links disprove the claims your making. Look above at this crazy Robin lady: she claims that the level of toxic Thimerosal was 25mcg (I assume she was talking per KG)….the FDA themselves (following her own link) showed that they exposed people to something like 1000 times that level with no toxic effects… This is ridiculous. Why do these people refuse any scientific studies as “lies”…. You are as bad as Kennedy assassination and “we never landed on the moon” conspiracy theorists.
Why not remove thimerosal from influenza vaccines, as it has been from other infant vaccines, and see if the rate of autism in the US decreases? Until thimerosal is removed from ALL vaccines administered to infants and children, there will remain a legitimate concern regarding the link between the preservative and autism.