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Today's Stories November 2, 2009 Steven Higgs October 30 - Nov. 1, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair / Carl Ginsburg Mike Whitney Joe Bageant Gareth Porter Saul Landau Anthony DiMaggio Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Niranjan Ramakrishnan Jayne Lyn Stahl Rev. William E. Alberts Alvaro Huerta Martha Rosenberg Binoy Kampmark Norm Kent Charles R. Larson Roth's "The Humbling:" Nothing Like a Novel From an Old Pro Ron Jacobs David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 29, 2009 Michael Neumann Mike Whitney Gary Leupp Conn Hallinan Marshall Auerback Laura Flanders Eamonn McCann David Macaray Mark Weisbrot Stephen Soldz Christopher Brauchli Website of the Day October 28, 2009 Moshe Adler Dave Lindorff Frank Joseph Smecker Alexandra Early M. Shahid Alam Vijay Prashad John Ross Franklin Lamb Gregory Travis Susan Galleymore Website of the Day October 27, 2009 Mike Whitney Patrick Cockburn Stewart J. Lawrence Alan Farago Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Bouthaina Shaaban Brian M. Downing Elections in Afghanistan, the Second Time Around Iain Boal Carl Finamore Jayne Lyn Stahl Website of the Day October 26, 2009 Bill Quigley / Paul Craig Roberts Uri Avnery Mike Whitney Michael Snedeker Shamus Cooke David Michael Green Martha Rosenberg Patrick Bond Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 23-25, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Christopher Ketcham Jeff Gore Gareth Porter Jayne Lyn Stahl Saul Landau Mike Whitney Nikolas Kozloff Ron Jacobs Russell Mokhiber Missy Beattie Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman David Ker Thomson Rannie Amiri Ronnie Cummins Norm Kent Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Ben Sonnenberg Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 22, 2009 Dan Pearson / Jonathan Cook Paul Craig Roberts The US as Failed State Mark Engler Johann Hari Brian M. Downing Eric Toussaint Tom Mountain Israel Shamir Charles Thomson Website of the Day October 21, 2009 Pam Martens Linn Washington, Jr. Liaquat Ali Khan D. K. Wilson Franklin Lamb Norman Solomon Stephen Fleischman Patrice Higonnet Binoy Kampmark Kevin Coval / Website of the Day October 20, 2009 Sharon Smith Tariq Ali Mark Brenner Bouthaina Shaaban Michael D. Yates Dean Baker Dave Lindorff John Ross Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Kevin Zeese Gilad Atzmon Website of the Day October 19, 2009 Mike Whitney Greg Moses John Ross Michael Donnelly Jayne Lyn Stahl Eric Walberg Russell Mokhiber Barbara Rose Johnston John V. Whitbeck Christopher Ketcham Website of the Day October 16-18, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Paul Craig Roberts Carl Ginsburg Ralph Nader Nikolas Kozloff Carlo Galli Dave Lindorff Catherine Rottenberg
/ Neve Gordon Marshall Auerback Nicola Nasser Windy Cooler James L. Secor Ron Jacobs Wes Jackson Jesse Lerner-Kinglake David Ker Thomson Against Leaders Missy Beattie Emily Ratner Stephen Martin Michael Snedeker Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Peter Stone Brown Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 15, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Brian M. Downing Ramzy Baroud Danny Weil M. Idrees Ahmad Margaret Kimberley Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Harvey Wasserman Nirmal Ghosh Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 14, 2009 Michael Neumann M. Reza Pirbhai Gareth Porter Paul Craig Roberts John Strausbaugh Fortress Moon Ralph Nader Dean Baker Charles Modiano Nadia Hijab Walter Brasch Website of the Day October 13, 2009 Peter Linebaugh Shamus Cooke John Ross Brendan Cooney Frida Berrigan Yves Engler David Macaray Dave Lindorff Mark Weisbrot Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Binoy Kampmark Website of the Day October 12, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Martha Rosenberg Jessica Arents Eamonn McCann Bill Hatch Sen. Russell Feingold Niranjan Ramakrishnan Gideon Levy Iyad Burnat Alan Cabal Dan Bacher Website of the Day October 9-11, 2009 Alexander Cockburn James Bovard Kathleen and Bill Christison Andy Worthington Marc Levy Tariq Ali Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Alan Nasser Jack Z. Bratich Steve Breyman David Michael Green Dave Lindorff Paul Buchheit Jim Goodman Missy Beattie Michael Leonardi Nadia Hijab Mel Packer David Macaray James T. Phillips Charles R. Larson Michael Donnelly David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend October 8, 2009 Saul Landau Paul Fitzgerald / Linn Washington, Jr. Marshall Auerback Dave Lindorff David Rosen Chris Darimont / Misty MacDuffee John V. Walsh Stewart Lawrence Charles R. Larson Website of the Day October 7, 2009 Brendan Cooney Paul Craig Roberts Dean Baker Jonathan Cook John Stanton Joanne Mariner Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada Stephen Lendman Sen. Russell Feingold Mary Lynn Cramer Website of the Day October 6, 2009 Mike Whitney Gareth Porter Jonathan Cook Boris Kagarlitsky Iain Boal Ron Jacobs John Ross Michael Dickinson Stephen Fleischman Ira Glunts Missy Beattie Website of the Day October 5, 2009 Pam Martens Mike Whitney Paul Craig Roberts Harry Browne Sara Mann Omar Barghouti Shamus Cooke Brenda Norrell Fred Gardner Binoy Kampmark Copenhagen Blues: McChrystal and the Afghan Trap Website of the Day October 2-4, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Diana Johnstone Greg Moses William Blum Brian Cloughley Russell Mokhiber John Ross Ellen Brown David Ker Thomson David Macaray Gary Engler Robert Fantina Lisa Stolarski / Naomi Archer Anthony Papa Joe Allen Harry Browne Ron Jacobs Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Mercury RisingAutism Spikes, Toxins SuspectedBy STEVEN HIGGS As the national focus on the H1N1 pandemic rages, additional evidence of a more insidious epidemic has emerged, with an all-too-expected shrug from the mainstream media. Results from two federal studies announced in October say parents have a 1-in-100-or-greater chance of having a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Since boys are four times more likely to have an ASD, their odds are as high as 1 in 60. On Oct. 2, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the press and about 50 members of the autism community that an unreleased Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study shows the incidence of 8-year-olds born in 1996 with ASDs is 1 in 100. The agency's last two studies of children born in 1992 and 1994 put the chance at 1 in 150. On Oct. 5, the journal Pediatrics published the results of HHS's Maternal and Child Health Bureau's "2007 National Survey of Children's Health," which showed 1 in 91 children between the ages of 3 and 17 had autism. ASDs include Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), which are characterized by lifelong developmental deficits in social, behavioral and communication skills. According to the CDC, citizens with ASDs "have significant impairments in social skills and communication. They often have repetitive behaviors and unusual interests." The National Survey of Children's Health data was drawn from telephone surveys of 78,000 parents who said their children had been diagnosed and still have ASDs. While its methodology has been criticized, the results aren't too far out of range of other recent reports. In Indiana, a grossly polluted state with comparatively high rates of autism, data reported to the Indiana Department of Education, by every public school system in the state, have shown spikes in the numbers of children enrolled in special education under the category "autistic" over the past three years. The federally required counts are called Child Count Data. "Last year 1 in 128 students were served under the eligibility category of Autism Spectrum Disorders," Cathy Pratt, director of the Indiana Resource Center and chair of the National Autism Society of America, said for a story last spring. "This year's identification rate is 1 in 113." In June, Pratt reported the latest figures in an e-mail to The Bloomington Alternative: "Now the Child Count Data is showing 1 in 101." In another e-mail last week she confirmed its currency: "That is the latest data I have." *** As Huffington Post blogger David Kirby observed in his post of Oct. 9, the mainstream media's response to the new CDC data has been "rather nonchalant." But the implications of the new incidence measures are anything but mundane. They are "startling," as Kirby, author of the best-selling book Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy, says. Improved diagnostics and changing criteria have long complicated the sometimes incendiary national debate about autism, its incidence and its causes. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), published in 1994, expanded the ASD criteria to include Asperger's and PDD-NOS. So the 0.44 autism cases per 1,000 live births that the California Department of Health Services found in 1980, for example, couldn't be accurately compared to CDC studies that showed the rate at 6.7 and 6.6 per 1,000 in 1992 and 1994. The California subjects were diagnosed before the DSM-IV changes, the CDC subjects after. But the new 1-in-100 ratio of children born in 1996 appears to be a legitimate comparison. All three subject groups were identified under the same diagnostic criteria. And while the actual study will not be released until later this year, it doesn't appear that the CDC has altered its methodology. And federal officials' reported response to the new numbers suggests drama. In an Oct. 5 piece in Age of Autism, Kirby described Sebelius's call to the autism community as a "hastily arranged telephone 'visit,'" during which she announced that the "prevalence of autism might be even higher than previously thought." The secretary then hedged a bit -- "We don't know if it has gone up, and we are hoping to unlock these mysteries." -- declared autism an "urgent public health challenge" and "promptly ended her visit," Kirby continued. The Associated Press reported on Oct. 5 that CDC announced the unpublished 1-in-100 findings "during an embargoed press briefing" in response to the published children's health survey's 1-in-91 rate. Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health and chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, provided more detail. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he sounded a cautionary note similar to Sebelius's. "It is not entirely clear what (the) increase is due to," he said. "It is not clear more children are affected rather than just changes in our ability to detect." Another interview with an AP medical writer was more sobering. "The concern here is that buried in these numbers is a true increase," Insel said. "We're going to have to think very hard about what we're going to do for the 1 in 100." *** No one knows what causes autism, let alone what is responsible for the statistical evidence that its prevalence is spiking. “Honestly, if someone was going to give a talk on the etiology or causes of autism, it would be entirely speculative,” according to Dr. Christopher McDougle, an autism researcher and chair of the psychiatry department at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “There’s nothing that’s known.” Research has focused on perinatal and prenatal causes, he said, because autistic symptoms appear between the ages of 1 and 1½. Prenatal suspects include fetal damage from medications, abnormal brain development from genetic causes or infections. Contributing factors at birth could be prematurity, lack of oxygen to the brain, prolonged labor or infections. Shortly after birth: infections or environmental contributions. A growing number of researchers believe that autism is triggered in genetically predisposed individuals by an "environmental hit," McDougle said. Count Kirby among those who argue that environmental pollution is the likely culprit in the autism epidemic. Federal health officials who led the AP to report, “Greater awareness, broader definitions and spotting autism in younger children may explain some of the increase,” are misguided, he argued. “Some have called it ‘good news’ that doctors are now so proficient at diagnosing the milder forms of ASD,” Kirby wrote in the Huffington Post. “… Many will call me an alarmist, but I believe that 1-in-60 boys with an autism spectrum disorder is a national crisis -- and not just a reassuring confirmation of how things have always been.” Plus, he added, to buy that argument is to accept the conclusion that 1-in-60 American males, young and old, have an ASD. “Do you really believe that 1 in 60 American men are autistic?” he asked. For Kirby, the parallel rise in environmental pollution and autism rates are related. And federal officials need to shift their focus accordingly. “They don't seem to feel that rising levels of environmental toxic exposures in genetically susceptible children might also be at play here,” he wrote in the Huffington Post. “I personally believe that toxins like mercury can trigger ASD in children. These toxic exposures are on the rise, and so is the incidence of ASD.” Steven Higgs is a freelance writer in Bloomington, Ind., and editor of The Bloomington Alternative, www.BloomingtonAlternative.com. He can be reached at editor@BloomingtonAlternative.com.
Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Obama and Black America Ten months into Obama-time, the plight of black Americans is terrible. Yet overwhelmingly they rally behind the president. In a powerful report from the Deep South Kevin Alexander Gray asks the question: what should the black political agenda be? Mark Rudd counterposes “organizing” with “activism” and describes what it will take to build a movement. H. Bruce Franklin gives a chronology of the march into Afghanistan. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.Order CounterPunch By Email For Only $35 a Year !
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
"Powerful and shocking ..
Waiting for
Lightning
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