Revealed: the nasty secret in your kitchen cupboard
18 of 20 most popular tins made with controversial bisphenol A in lining
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Some of Britain's best-known foods contain the controversial chemical bisphenol A, The Independent can reveal.
Tins of Heinz baked beans, soup and beans, John West and Princes fish, and Napolina tomatoes are lined with a membrane containing bisphenol A, or BPA, a molecule of which is pictured top left. Other companies using it in their tins include the biggest retailers in the UK, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, who use it for tins of tuna and sardines.
Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has given the chemical the all-clear, in contrast to the US Food and Drug Administration, which in January expressed concern over its impact on the brains and development of young children and said it was "taking reasonable steps to reduce human exposure" to it in the food supply. After the American U-turn, the EU-funded European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) launched and is still carrying out a review of BPA.
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Some scientists fear that exposure to minute doses of the chemical in food and other products may be damaging to the health of individuals.
BPA is an endocrine disruptor that interrupts hormones and, in laboratory experiments on animals, has been linked with breast cancer, prostate cancer, hyperactivity and other metabolic and behavioural problems, diseases which are all on the rise in the West. But the plastics and chemicals industries insist its use is safe and accuse campaigners of misleading the public, pointing to industry-funded studies involving large numbers of rodents that have shown no harm.
At stake is the future of one of the highest production volume chemicals in the world. BPA is widely used to harden the plastic casings of mobile phones and computers and makes baby bottles shatterproof. In food products, it commonly lines the inside of cans and tins to protect their contents from being contaminated by the metal.
To establish its prevalence in food, The Independent surveyed manufacturers of the UK's 20 best-selling tinned foods. Although it is not stated on tins, BPA is used in the linings of 18 out of the 20 products, which have combined annual sales of £921m, or 43 per cent of UK tinned food sales. All the companies said their products were safe because the levels of BPA leaching out into food were so low that they were safe.
However Heinz said it was looking to phase out BPA once alternatives could be found. In a statement, the US tinned food giant said: "Although UK and European food authorities have stated that minute levels of BPA in can coatings are safe, Heinz remains committed to moving to alternatives. For beans, pasta and many soups a protective coating is only applied to the can ends which would not provide any trace of BPA or would be at the limit of detection of a few parts per billion. This compares with the safe legal limit of 600 parts per billion. Heinz continues to advance research into alternative coatings in response to consumer opinion but safety remains our first priority before making any changes."
Princes, the tinned fish company which also owns the Napolina brand, said: "The inside of most food cans requires a protective coating. Bisphenol A (BPA) is used industry wide as a component part of this coating. It is an approved food contact material and there is guidance from both the FSA and the EFSA regarding its use."
John West said: "Some of John West's tinned products are lined with a lacquer that contains a derivate of Bisphenol. By contact tiny amounts of Bisphenol-A are able to migrate within the EU regulation limits." Baxters, the Scottish soup-maker, said its cans contained "minute" amounts of BPA at levels "substantially lower" than that approved by the EFSA.
Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, and other producers such as Premier Foods, General Mills and Hormel Foods, the US company which makes Spam, insisted their tins were safe and produced in accordance with current safety regulations.
Tinned drinks also include a membrane with BPA. A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola UK confirmed: "We use BPA in the linings of our cans. Our top priority is to ensure the safety and quality of our products and packaging through rigorous standards that meet or exceed government requirements... All available scientific evidence and testing shows that drinks in aluminium and steel cans are safe."
According to the FSA, studies have shown that BPA is not harmful to laboratory animals when fed in amounts equivalent to more than exposure levels in humans. However the last review of the safety of BPA in tinned foods in Britain was eight years ago by the Committee on Toxicity. Since then several peer-reviewed scientific studies have detected low-dose effects on animals. These low-dose effects are not currently recognised by British or European regulators.
Breast Cancer UK is among several campaigning organisations which wants to see reductions in BPA used in food and other products. Claire Dimmer, chair of trustees, said: "We welcome the research that the food packaging industry is undertaking to find potential BPA alternatives. But these efforts need to be stepped up significantly. " She called on manufacturers to introduce clear BPA labelling – "otherwise it's impossible for us to make a decision on ways of limiting our and our families exposure to this chemical."
TOP 20: BRITAIN'S MOST POPULAR TINNED FOODS
Brand / Maker/ Contains BPA?
1. Heinz classic soup / Heinz / YES
2. John West canned fish / John West / YES
3. Heinz Baked Beans / Heinz / YES
4. Princes canned fish / Princes / YES
5. Napolina tomato products / Princes / YES
6 Branston Baked Beans / Premier Foods / YES
7. Tesco canned fish / Tesco / YES
8. Sainsbury canned fish / Sainsburys / YES
9. Green Giant Niblets / General Mills / YES
10. Princes Corned Beef / Princes / YES
11. Fray Bentos canned pies / Premier Foods / YES
12. Heinz Big Soup / Heinz / YES
13. Baxters Favourites Soup / Baxters / YES
14. Tesco Value tomato products / Tesco / NO
15. Asda canned fish / Asda / YES
16. Spam Chopped Ham/Pork / Spam / YES
17. Heinz Long Spaghetti / Heinz / YES
18 Heinz Beans with Pork Sausages / Heinz / YES
19 Tesco Value canned fish / Tesco / YES
20. Tesco canned fruit / Tesco / NO
Sources: Kantor Worldpanel and The Independent
Thursday, April 1, 2010
White House mandates new fuel efficiency standards
White House mandates new fuel efficiency standards
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 1, 2010; 3:26 PM
The Obama administration finalized the first national rules curbing greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, mandating that the U.S. car and light-truck fleet reach an average fuel efficiency of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
The new fuel efficiency standards, issued by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency as the result of a May 2009 deal with the auto industry, represent a peaceful end to a contentious legal battle over how to regulate tailpipe emissions. At a time when it remains unclear whether Congress can pass climate legislation this year, the new rules also mark the White House's most significant achievement yet in addressing global warming.
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 1, 2010; 3:26 PM
The Obama administration finalized the first national rules curbing greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, mandating that the U.S. car and light-truck fleet reach an average fuel efficiency of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.
The new fuel efficiency standards, issued by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency as the result of a May 2009 deal with the auto industry, represent a peaceful end to a contentious legal battle over how to regulate tailpipe emissions. At a time when it remains unclear whether Congress can pass climate legislation this year, the new rules also mark the White House's most significant achievement yet in addressing global warming.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford
Obama to Crush Economy with Massive CO2 Taxes as Early as Next Week
By Fred Dardick Thursday, April 1, 2010
Abandoning all loyalty to the democratic processes this nation holds dear, President Obama has made the decision that getting energy tax legislation through Congress with the approval of the American people is just too much of a pain to bother with. Instead he will have the EPA declare as early as next week that CO2 is a dangerous global warming gas and will start regulating its emissions immediately.
Obama’s promise to open up vast stretches of ocean on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration is simply a ruse to soften up the public for soon to be announced draconian regulations.
Similar to how Obama used the $50 million dollar study on healthcare companies competing across state lines to sell ObamaCare as a bipartisan bill, his recent decree allowing energy companies to explore (not drill, not produce energy from … just explore) new stretches of ocean for oil is also meant to be a trivial, yet impressive enough sounding carrot for conservatives right before he stuffs his Marxist trash down their throats.
House Minority Leader John Boehner responded to Obama by saying “At the same time the White House makes today’s announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford.”
Every American who doesn’t live in a technology adverse commune in California will now pay even more of their hard earned cash to the federal government for absolutely no good reason.
Put simply, it means $8 for a gallon of gas and 2-3 times higher electricity bills. It also means the loss of millions more sorely needed jobs as businesses are hit with higher operating costs and the transfer of whatever remains of our manufacturing sector to China where energy is cheaper and they aren’t so concerned about CO2.
In the first week alone, American businesses estimated that ObamaCare will cost them $14 billion. By most estimates this latest Obama nightmare will be far more expensive and may literally destroy the economy in less than 20 years.
All because of climate science that has been clearly exposed as inaccurate and untrustworthy. Obama may or may not be a communist plant sent to destroy America, but he sure is acting like one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Dardick Bio
Fred Dardick Most recent columns
Fred Dardick is the owner and operator of a medical staffing company based in Chicago. Prior to the business world, he worked as a biological researcher at various highly regarded universities in the United States. Fred can be reached at: fdardick@hotmail.com
Obama to Crush Economy with Massive CO2 Taxes as Early as Next Week
By Fred Dardick Thursday, April 1, 2010
Abandoning all loyalty to the democratic processes this nation holds dear, President Obama has made the decision that getting energy tax legislation through Congress with the approval of the American people is just too much of a pain to bother with. Instead he will have the EPA declare as early as next week that CO2 is a dangerous global warming gas and will start regulating its emissions immediately.
Obama’s promise to open up vast stretches of ocean on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration is simply a ruse to soften up the public for soon to be announced draconian regulations.
Similar to how Obama used the $50 million dollar study on healthcare companies competing across state lines to sell ObamaCare as a bipartisan bill, his recent decree allowing energy companies to explore (not drill, not produce energy from … just explore) new stretches of ocean for oil is also meant to be a trivial, yet impressive enough sounding carrot for conservatives right before he stuffs his Marxist trash down their throats.
House Minority Leader John Boehner responded to Obama by saying “At the same time the White House makes today’s announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is plotting a new massive job-killer that the American people can’t afford.”
Every American who doesn’t live in a technology adverse commune in California will now pay even more of their hard earned cash to the federal government for absolutely no good reason.
Put simply, it means $8 for a gallon of gas and 2-3 times higher electricity bills. It also means the loss of millions more sorely needed jobs as businesses are hit with higher operating costs and the transfer of whatever remains of our manufacturing sector to China where energy is cheaper and they aren’t so concerned about CO2.
In the first week alone, American businesses estimated that ObamaCare will cost them $14 billion. By most estimates this latest Obama nightmare will be far more expensive and may literally destroy the economy in less than 20 years.
All because of climate science that has been clearly exposed as inaccurate and untrustworthy. Obama may or may not be a communist plant sent to destroy America, but he sure is acting like one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Dardick Bio
Fred Dardick Most recent columns
Fred Dardick is the owner and operator of a medical staffing company based in Chicago. Prior to the business world, he worked as a biological researcher at various highly regarded universities in the United States. Fred can be reached at: fdardick@hotmail.com
Haiti Watch: Disease Threatens Infants and No Plans to Stop It
March 24, 2010 at 14:16:04
View Ratings | Rate It
Promoted to Headline (H3) on 3/24/10:
Haiti Watch: Disease Threatens Infants and No Plans to Stop It
It's not as if the early warning signs are not there, or that the bacterial and biological agents responsible for disease have not been identified. Laboratory samples received at the Haiti National Public Health Laboratory since January 27 indicate the following waterborne infectious diseases are confirmed active in the country--hepatitis A, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and shigellosis. Informal lab results showed coliforms and Giardia in drinking water. These reports are compounded by identified mosquitoborne illnesses of malaria and Dengue Fever, which are more of a threat to aid workers than to the Haitian people at this point.
Image: Mosquitoes hatching in pooled water.
Image: Storm drain in Port-au-Prince used for bathing and washing
On March 22, OCHA, the United Nations office that coordinates humanitarian affairs, issued a report that supports Dr. Wilson's concerns. The average number of people per latrine, where there are latrines, is 411, with a total of 4,275 latrines are needed to assure minimum standards and 10,687 to assure Sphere standards. In Cite Soleil, which is the poorest area, less than 28% of respondents had received any aid from relief organizations. There is lack of follow up on medical care, if any at all.
Again, we witnessed this area first hand. The lack of even the basics of shelter and water is obvious, and the fact that this area has been so ignored is a travesty and immoral. We also witnessed first hand the fear of aid organizations to go into these some of the camps, while we traveled freely with no armed guards or personal protection. I told a friend here in the States that I felt they were cowards. She replied, "They are despicable cowards," and I would now echo that sentiment.
So what do we do when there is no time for hand-wringing and recriminations because aid organizations will not share information because they are protective of turf and funding?
Here are some of Dr. Wilson's suggestions:
The primary recommendation is for his organization to immediately deploy in Haiti, create a stockpile of countermeasures, maintain an early warning system, and "manage Intercept teams to assist with rapid response by deploying countermeasures to sites that need them."
"We are in bad, urgent need of funding to do this," he wrote this morning.
"We cannot obviously build a US-comparable sewage system, but the provision of adequate drainage would at least keep raw sewage from flowing through folks' tents and shelters, Wilson says.
The above said, it is my belief there are certain things we can do, and many that are insurmountable before the coming rains. Note we are taking a posture of mitigation and expected response. It is our belief it is important for the Haitian public to see and understand we will do everything in our power to mitigate the threat of diarrheal disease, which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Haiti's children, and the top candidate for causing an unexpected and non-routine excession of mortality in the next 30-60-90 days.
Wilson is using social networking via Twitter and Geochat to link data.
What is Geochat? It is a very powerful text message capability to enable us to rapidly inform each other of events or to simply ask a pressing question about a possible infectious disease event. You can even run RSS feeds through the group, as we will do for our Situation Reports and advisories. This enables you to have nearly instantaneous access to information even while in Haiti, so long as your phone is turned on and you are in range.
Want to join? Click on this link, or copy & paste it into your browser's address bar if that doesn't work.
You can also follow Dr. Wilson on Twitter.
Image: Wilson and Keenan at flooded camp area in Petionville. Haitians refer to this camp as the the "Club Med" of camps.
An added note. Dr. Wilson, Like Dr. Tiffany Keenan, is currently funding his work through his own 401K. It is running out and he is concerned about his own family's welfare back in Seattle. Why are we letting this happen when millions and millions of dollars are being literally flushed down the money pit in Haiti?
1 | 2
Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota, New Orleans and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online (more...)
View Ratings | Rate It
Promoted to Headline (H3) on 3/24/10:
Haiti Watch: Disease Threatens Infants and No Plans to Stop It
It's not as if the early warning signs are not there, or that the bacterial and biological agents responsible for disease have not been identified. Laboratory samples received at the Haiti National Public Health Laboratory since January 27 indicate the following waterborne infectious diseases are confirmed active in the country--hepatitis A, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, and shigellosis. Informal lab results showed coliforms and Giardia in drinking water. These reports are compounded by identified mosquitoborne illnesses of malaria and Dengue Fever, which are more of a threat to aid workers than to the Haitian people at this point.
Image: Mosquitoes hatching in pooled water.
Image: Storm drain in Port-au-Prince used for bathing and washing
On March 22, OCHA, the United Nations office that coordinates humanitarian affairs, issued a report that supports Dr. Wilson's concerns. The average number of people per latrine, where there are latrines, is 411, with a total of 4,275 latrines are needed to assure minimum standards and 10,687 to assure Sphere standards. In Cite Soleil, which is the poorest area, less than 28% of respondents had received any aid from relief organizations. There is lack of follow up on medical care, if any at all.
Again, we witnessed this area first hand. The lack of even the basics of shelter and water is obvious, and the fact that this area has been so ignored is a travesty and immoral. We also witnessed first hand the fear of aid organizations to go into these some of the camps, while we traveled freely with no armed guards or personal protection. I told a friend here in the States that I felt they were cowards. She replied, "They are despicable cowards," and I would now echo that sentiment.
So what do we do when there is no time for hand-wringing and recriminations because aid organizations will not share information because they are protective of turf and funding?
Here are some of Dr. Wilson's suggestions:
The primary recommendation is for his organization to immediately deploy in Haiti, create a stockpile of countermeasures, maintain an early warning system, and "manage Intercept teams to assist with rapid response by deploying countermeasures to sites that need them."
"We are in bad, urgent need of funding to do this," he wrote this morning.
"We cannot obviously build a US-comparable sewage system, but the provision of adequate drainage would at least keep raw sewage from flowing through folks' tents and shelters, Wilson says.
The above said, it is my belief there are certain things we can do, and many that are insurmountable before the coming rains. Note we are taking a posture of mitigation and expected response. It is our belief it is important for the Haitian public to see and understand we will do everything in our power to mitigate the threat of diarrheal disease, which is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Haiti's children, and the top candidate for causing an unexpected and non-routine excession of mortality in the next 30-60-90 days.
Wilson is using social networking via Twitter and Geochat to link data.
What is Geochat? It is a very powerful text message capability to enable us to rapidly inform each other of events or to simply ask a pressing question about a possible infectious disease event. You can even run RSS feeds through the group, as we will do for our Situation Reports and advisories. This enables you to have nearly instantaneous access to information even while in Haiti, so long as your phone is turned on and you are in range.
Want to join? Click on this link, or copy & paste it into your browser's address bar if that doesn't work.
You can also follow Dr. Wilson on Twitter.
Image: Wilson and Keenan at flooded camp area in Petionville. Haitians refer to this camp as the the "Club Med" of camps.
An added note. Dr. Wilson, Like Dr. Tiffany Keenan, is currently funding his work through his own 401K. It is running out and he is concerned about his own family's welfare back in Seattle. Why are we letting this happen when millions and millions of dollars are being literally flushed down the money pit in Haiti?
1 | 2
Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota, New Orleans and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online (more...)
Health Care Battle Ends; War on Social Security Begins
Health Care Battle Ends; War on Social Security Begins
by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 29, 2010
- 2010-03-28
Drunk with success over their Health Care bill passing, the Democrats are now lusting after even greater conquests. With the celebratory hangover still aching, the Democrats lurch forward towards a hasty drive to “reform” Social Security.
The Social Security reform will no doubt resemble the health care reform, the details of which remain a mystery to most Americans. The essence of both policies will be based on one principle: reduce the debt of the United States by any means necessary.
Two articles in The New York Times confirmed that this was indeed the reasoning behind Obama’s health care bill. The first states:
“[the health care bill] signed Tuesday by Mr. Obama... squeeze[s] nearly a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare [500 billion dollars] in the next 10 years and establish[s] many demonstration projects to test innovative ways of delivering health care.”
The second half of the quote — “innovative ways of delivering health care” — is doublespeak for “health care rationing” (providing less), the basis of Obama’s health care plan.
This truth was revealed in the same article, when Obama’s new appointee to head Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald Berwick, was discussed. The main qualification of Dr. Berwick is that he plans to, in his own words, “Over the next three years, reduce the total resource consumption of your health care system, no matter where you start, by 10 percent.”
A stark example of Dr. Berwick’s health care philosophy — rationing — is then given, applied to himself after he received a serious knee injury: “Doctors urged him to have a knee replacement operation several years ago, but he decided instead to have just a “steroid injection,” and the outcome has been fine, he said.” (March 28, 2010).
The head of Medicare and Medicaid will thus be advocating “injections” when “surgeries” are recommended, as well as a variety of other ways to ration health care. This key concept of Obama’s health care plan was what the health care corporations were really salivating over, and now the plan is to apply it to Social Security.
A separate New York Times article clearly explains how the rationing of health care and the “reforming” of Social Security are one and the same:
“Central to the health care changes are hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions in Medicare spending over time... As some administration officials acknowledge, that effectively takes those fast-growing entitlement programs off the table for deficit reduction just as Mr. Obama’s bipartisan commission to reduce the mounting national debt gets to work.
“That leaves Social Security, the other big entitlement benefits program and one that Mr. Obama has suggested in the past that he is willing to tackle. While its looming problems are not of the scale of those afflicting Medicare, it now stands as the likeliest source of the sort of large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels, many budget analysts agree.” (March 23, 2010, emphasis added).
Doublespeak translation: “...large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels” equals rationing or “reducing” Social Security benefits.
How will this happen? The article answers: “...packaging future reductions in the retirement program [Social Security] that Democrats zealously defend with tax increases that Republicans typically oppose would have the makings of a grand compromise to shrink the debt.”
The article also mentions “gradually rais[ing] the retirement age for future Social Security recipients” as a popular idea. These reductions are necessary because “...the promise of future reductions would immediately reassure global markets fretful that the United States’ debt is already its highest since World War II.”
There you have it. “Global markets,” i.e. rich investors, are demanding that the U.S. pay them back in full, not in inflated dollars. It is obvious that the Obama administration wants working people to pay this debt back, not Wall Street or the wealthy in general.
And the article says nothing about the fact that the rich have a sweet deal when it comes to paying into Social Security. The wages of ordinary working people are taxed at a rate of 6.2 percent for Social Security. But for the rich, they are not taxed at all on income over $107,000, meaning that their overall Social Security tax rate is lower than everyone else’s. By removing the cap on how much they are taxed, a substantial amount of money would be raised for Social Security.
A working class solution to address the the nation's problems must be fought for now! President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka offers a splendid vision: "The best way to fix the deficit is to create 10 million jobs now — the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit. This will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street. In addition to creating jobs for Main Street this tax will also curb short-term speculation and other Wall Street abuses that caused this recession."
Well said. But excellent ideas without the necessary actions attached are meaningless. For labor to press their agenda, they must act independently of the Democrats. Lobbying congressmen with union money isn’t going to do the trick — not even close.
Labor can begin this time by taking back the streets. The Tea Party conservatives are exploiting labor’s inaction, and thus garnering some public support by their fake radicalism. Massive labor-led demonstrations, in Washington, DC, for example, will quiet the corporate-sponsored Tea Partiers, especially if Labor comes equipped with the above demands for job creation and taxing Wall Street and the wealthy. The vast majority of working people would overwhelmingly support such demands, and a serious campaign to achieve them would change the face of the present corporate-dominated political scene. But time is of the essence. The corporations have their plans laid out and will push them into effect soon if they are not pushed back — hard!
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at shamuscooke@gmail.com.
by Shamus Cooke
Global Research, March 29, 2010
- 2010-03-28
Drunk with success over their Health Care bill passing, the Democrats are now lusting after even greater conquests. With the celebratory hangover still aching, the Democrats lurch forward towards a hasty drive to “reform” Social Security.
The Social Security reform will no doubt resemble the health care reform, the details of which remain a mystery to most Americans. The essence of both policies will be based on one principle: reduce the debt of the United States by any means necessary.
Two articles in The New York Times confirmed that this was indeed the reasoning behind Obama’s health care bill. The first states:
“[the health care bill] signed Tuesday by Mr. Obama... squeeze[s] nearly a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare [500 billion dollars] in the next 10 years and establish[s] many demonstration projects to test innovative ways of delivering health care.”
The second half of the quote — “innovative ways of delivering health care” — is doublespeak for “health care rationing” (providing less), the basis of Obama’s health care plan.
This truth was revealed in the same article, when Obama’s new appointee to head Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald Berwick, was discussed. The main qualification of Dr. Berwick is that he plans to, in his own words, “Over the next three years, reduce the total resource consumption of your health care system, no matter where you start, by 10 percent.”
A stark example of Dr. Berwick’s health care philosophy — rationing — is then given, applied to himself after he received a serious knee injury: “Doctors urged him to have a knee replacement operation several years ago, but he decided instead to have just a “steroid injection,” and the outcome has been fine, he said.” (March 28, 2010).
The head of Medicare and Medicaid will thus be advocating “injections” when “surgeries” are recommended, as well as a variety of other ways to ration health care. This key concept of Obama’s health care plan was what the health care corporations were really salivating over, and now the plan is to apply it to Social Security.
A separate New York Times article clearly explains how the rationing of health care and the “reforming” of Social Security are one and the same:
“Central to the health care changes are hundreds of billions of dollars in reductions in Medicare spending over time... As some administration officials acknowledge, that effectively takes those fast-growing entitlement programs off the table for deficit reduction just as Mr. Obama’s bipartisan commission to reduce the mounting national debt gets to work.
“That leaves Social Security, the other big entitlement benefits program and one that Mr. Obama has suggested in the past that he is willing to tackle. While its looming problems are not of the scale of those afflicting Medicare, it now stands as the likeliest source of the sort of large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels, many budget analysts agree.” (March 23, 2010, emphasis added).
Doublespeak translation: “...large savings needed to bring projected annual deficits to sustainable levels” equals rationing or “reducing” Social Security benefits.
How will this happen? The article answers: “...packaging future reductions in the retirement program [Social Security] that Democrats zealously defend with tax increases that Republicans typically oppose would have the makings of a grand compromise to shrink the debt.”
The article also mentions “gradually rais[ing] the retirement age for future Social Security recipients” as a popular idea. These reductions are necessary because “...the promise of future reductions would immediately reassure global markets fretful that the United States’ debt is already its highest since World War II.”
There you have it. “Global markets,” i.e. rich investors, are demanding that the U.S. pay them back in full, not in inflated dollars. It is obvious that the Obama administration wants working people to pay this debt back, not Wall Street or the wealthy in general.
And the article says nothing about the fact that the rich have a sweet deal when it comes to paying into Social Security. The wages of ordinary working people are taxed at a rate of 6.2 percent for Social Security. But for the rich, they are not taxed at all on income over $107,000, meaning that their overall Social Security tax rate is lower than everyone else’s. By removing the cap on how much they are taxed, a substantial amount of money would be raised for Social Security.
A working class solution to address the the nation's problems must be fought for now! President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka offers a splendid vision: "The best way to fix the deficit is to create 10 million jobs now — the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit. This will require large amounts of public investment in the short term, which should be paid for in future years by taxing Wall Street. In addition to creating jobs for Main Street this tax will also curb short-term speculation and other Wall Street abuses that caused this recession."
Well said. But excellent ideas without the necessary actions attached are meaningless. For labor to press their agenda, they must act independently of the Democrats. Lobbying congressmen with union money isn’t going to do the trick — not even close.
Labor can begin this time by taking back the streets. The Tea Party conservatives are exploiting labor’s inaction, and thus garnering some public support by their fake radicalism. Massive labor-led demonstrations, in Washington, DC, for example, will quiet the corporate-sponsored Tea Partiers, especially if Labor comes equipped with the above demands for job creation and taxing Wall Street and the wealthy. The vast majority of working people would overwhelmingly support such demands, and a serious campaign to achieve them would change the face of the present corporate-dominated political scene. But time is of the essence. The corporations have their plans laid out and will push them into effect soon if they are not pushed back — hard!
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org). He can be reached at shamuscooke@gmail.com.
The Vitamin D Newsletter
April 2, 2010
Update on Autism and Vitamin D
This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter. If you are not subscribed, you can do so on the Vitamin D Council’s website.
Swedish Researchers on the Right Trail
I continue to get encouraging emails – like the one at the end of this newsletter – from parents of autistic children. At the same time, some researchers in the USA continue to deride my theory while scientists in Sweden are starting to piece it together. Three Swedish papers were published this month that support the vitamin D theory of autism.
In the first paper, Dr. Mats Humble and his colleagues – at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm – measured vitamin D levels on 117 adult psychiatric outpatients. They found that the 10 adult patients with autism had the lowest 25(OH)D levels of any of the other groups, including the patients with schizophrenia and depression, an average of about 12 ng/ml, a level known to cause rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Even more interesting, they reported that some of the patients with depression and schizophrenia seemed to improve when treated with an average of about 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day. They did not say if they treated any of the vitamin D deficient autism patients.
Humble MB et al. Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) among psychiatric out-patients in Sweden: Relations with season, age, ethnic origin and psychiatric diagnosis. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2010 Mar 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Mothers of autistic children have very low 25(OH)D levels
The second paper, by Dr. Elisbeth Fernell and colleagues – from various institutions in Sweden – measured vitamin D levels in mothers about six years after they had given birth to a child now diagnosed with autism. The Somali mothers had very low vitamin D levels, less than 10 ng/ml. The trend was in the direction of lower vitamin D levels for Somali mothers with autistic children, compared to Somali mothers without an autistic child.
Fernell E et al. Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in mothers of Swedish and of Somali origin who have children with and without autism. Acta Paediatr. 2010 Mar 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Another scientist endorses the vitamin D theory of autism.
The third paper, an invited editorial in Acta Paediatrica by Dr. Darryl Eyles – of the University of Queensland – was more interesting, at least to me, as he issued an outright endorsement of my autism theory, not that it is proven, but that it is parsimonious, a word and concept I love. Darryl is a prolific researcher and was involved in many of the rat studies that showed gestational vitamin D deficiency damages the brains of the infant rat pups. It was the work of Dr. Eyles, together with that of Dr. John McGrath, which helped me formulate my vitamin D theory of autism. I wrote about their research in 2005, before I realized that the human brain damage I wrote about was manifesitng itself as the autism epidemic. Shortly after I wrote the newsletter below, I saw an autistic child at a shopping mall and started my research into autism and vitamin D.
Cannell JJ. The Tuskegee Experiment. Vitamin D Newsletter 7/17/05
Anyway, this month Dr. Eyles said, “Low maternal vitamin D remains a highly parsimonious explanation for certain prominent features of autism,” explaining how well their animal data fits with human data on autism. Perfect parsimony is when one theory explains all the known facts, and if there is one major autism fact the vitamin D theory of autism cannot explain, I have yet to locate it.
Eyles DW. Vitamin D and Autism, Does skin colour modify risk? Acta Paediatr. 2010 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Pregnant women need 5,000 IU/day
Dr. Eyles discussed the crucial importance of all pregnant women having adequate amounts of vitamin D and said he was eagerly awaiting the results of the clinical trial Bruce Hollis and Carol Wagner of the Medical University of South Carolina have conducted. They have given 4,000 IU/day to pregnant women, comparing that to 400 IU/day (the amount in prenatal vitamins) and to 2,000 IU/day.
However, several months in Brugge, Belgium, ago Dr. Hollis recently presented some of the data from his clinical trial, reporting that 4,000 IU/day in pregnancy is not only safe, but significantly reduces complications of pregnancy more than 2,000 IU/day does and a lot more than 400 IU/day does. All pregnant women should be on at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day and take neither cod liver oil nor any retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate (vitamin A).
Dear Dr. Cannell: (email received 5 weeks ago)
I have just recently learned about the Vitamin D link with autism. I am starting to supplement my 12- year old on because it is such a cheap and easy thing to do, with low risk. I want so much to be able to help him!! I am hoping very much that this will help, yet I am afraid to hope! He has Asperger’s type autism, and he was recently diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, which is no surprise to me considering his very oppositional behavior. So, my question is: has Vitamin D supplementation helped children like my son? Is it too late??
He really is an indoor kid. He is a red-head and burns easily and I’ve always protected him from the sun, thinking he must get enough vitamin D from the milk we drink. Well, I was probably wrong, I feel so guilty—is it to late? I am starting him on 5000 IU of D3; considering he is starting puberty now and weighs almost 110 pounds; does this sound reasonable? Has anyone out there seen help for high-functioning kids? He has so much social dysfunction, self-stimulatory behavior (belly-smacking and hair pulling, nail biting, etc.), paranoia, attention problems, and real difficulty with group dynamics, and of course, obsession with computers.
He is really smart (yet can barely use this because of his behavior), and wonderful with small children, animals, severely disabled children, and the elderly. Isn’t that interesting?? I am hoping that this helps. PLEASE reply to me email. My husband and I are discouraged and depressed about it all, and concerned for my son’s future. His doctors imply there is no hope and think vitamin D is nonsense. I can barely get my husband to interact with my son anymore—he is so discouraged by our son’s negativity and defiant behavior. I realize there is no “magic” pill, but please let me know if there is any hope.
Terry, Nebraska
Dear Terry:
There is always hope. As I wrote in my autism paper, I think a treatment effect is likely, especially with younger children. The fact that your son is 12 years old makes it less likely that vitamin D will have a treatment effect but it is certainly worth trying. I think it likely that there are two reasons why some parents do not see a treatment effect in their autistic children. Again, a treatment effect is quite different than a cure.
The first reason is that many of these children have been overdosed with vitamin A, either as bolus doses (large one time doses) some DAN practitioners use or from the 3,500 IU of preformed retinol in the powdered multivitamin commonly used for autistic children. Be sure to stop any cod liver oil or any vitamin A that he may be taking in his multivitamins or other supplements. No one knows how long it takes for excess vitamin A to get out of the body but, as no known mechanism exists for its degradation, it may take years.
This is very different than vitamin D. Vitamin D is transformed in the cells of the body to a steroid hormone, calcitriol. It functions by turning genes on and off; more than 1,000 such genes have been discovered. As soon as it functions to turn on or off the genes in question, perhaps a matter of seconds, the calcitriol is rapidly degraded to calcitroic acid and then removed from the body. Thus, unlike vitamin A, which is used again and again, vitamin D is rapidly catabolized (degraded), removed from the body, and must be replenished.
The second reason for a poor response in autism is dose. Autistic children need aggressive doses of vitamin D, not maintenance doses. Think of it like treating rickets. My advice is to give enough vitamin D to get him to at least a 100 ng/ml and if that does not work increase the dose until his 25(OH)D level is 150 ng/ml. This will require 2,000 – 5,000 IU/day/25 pounds of body weight, and occasionally more than that.
However, he will need frequent 25(OH)D levels as these are pharmacological doses, not physiological ones, meaning these doses should only be given, and monitored, in the hope of a treatment effect in the serious disease that has been linked to vitamin D deficiency. It is best done under the care of a knowledgeable physician. I know that is not always possible and time is of the essence in autism as it is a progressive inflammatory brain disease.
Good luck, my prayers are with you.
John Cannell, MD
Dear Dr. Cannell:
My 12-year-old autistic son is doing better on 5,000 IU of Vit. D3 every day, after only one month! I explained to him why he needs to take it, and he is fine with it. So, it has been over 1 month now. I was planning to get a 25 (OH)D test at the 3 month mark; should I stick to that? Is it a hard test?
His behavior has improved in almost all areas. He is still obsessive about his favorite computer games of course, and still smacks his belly when he really feels like it, but it overall is better. He has been doing much better in school behavior wise and has earned his privileges back in several areas. I don't feel so desperate about everything anymore. He does still throw fits, but everything has been a little more manageable. I have also been bringing him to the YMCA for swimming, hoping more exercise is good for him. He is still very self-focused. I don't know if that will ever change, after all, that is what autism IS.
I have reduced his meds a little, esp. on non-school days. I have reduced his Adderall by eliminating his third dose in the afternoon, and reduced his second daily dose of Risperdal and Zoloft. (He was not ever on large doses, quite moderate or small ones). One of my friends told me his meds were making him worse but all these meds helped when we started them but now I cannot tell the difference on these lower doses, so I am very happy about that.
I haven't talked to his doctors about it all yet. I am waiting for our next appointment. I have asked them many times about what would be good supplements for him, and all they have ever said is for him to take a multivitamin daily. I don't think that ever helped at all. I stopped his multivitamin because I don't want the vitamin A to antagonize the Vit. D. He does eat fruit well, and some veggies.
Both my husband and I are daring to hope and my husband is starting to interact with him again. Thanks again for helping people and writing to me. My blessings to you!
Terry, Nebraska
Dear Terry:
This is very hopeful, especially the improvement in face of the reductions in his medications. My advice is to continue his vitamin D at 5,000 IU per day for now and continue taking him to the YMCA for swimming and make sure it is an outdoor pool during the middle of the day. His sun-exposure should occur when the sun is high enough up in the sky so his shadow is shorter than he is, the shorter the better, the more skin the better. If he is outdoors in these conditions frequently enough, his 5,000 IU/day supplement and the sun should raise his 25(OH)D to about 100 ng/ml.
As he is red-headed and fair-skinned, use no sunblock for the first 10 minutes, or the time it takes for his skin to begin to turn slightly pink, and then put it on. I recommend sunblock that contains zinc oxide, titanium oxide or both. In spite of his fair skin, I predict that as his vitamin D level goes up, you will notice he tans with sun exposure; and then he will need less sunblock.
Obtain a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (not a 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D) every month. You want his 25(OH)D to be high, as high as a lifeguard in Miami in August, so at least 100 ng/ml. Then, even if he is responding to 100 ng/ml, the question arises, “Would he respond even better at 150 ng/ml? From what we know, this is perfectly safe as long as you get regular 25(OH)D tests and keep his 25(OH)D under 150 ng/ml. Documented toxicity (almost always asymptomatic hypercalcemia) has never been reported with 25(OH)D levels less than 200 ng/ml.
On our website, you can order in-home vitamin D testing. After you pay $65.00, ZRT will send you a test kit. You will need to stick his finger or his heel to get a small amount of blood on the blotter paper in the ZRT test kit. Maybe a nurse or a paramedic who you know will stick his finger or heel if you can’t stand to do it. If you mess up the first time, just contact ZRT, they will send you another test kit for free.
As far as reducing his psychiatric medication, be sure to do it very slowly, as an abrupt discontinuation may worsen his condition. His Adderall is an amphetamine stimulant, his Risperdal is an antipsychotic and his Zoloft is an antidepressant, but all can be helpful in autism. Also, be sure his psychiatrist is OK with slow reductions in his medication. Ignore anyone who tells you his psychiatric medications made him worse; they have their own agenda and it is not to help your son.
Also, make sure your son has a source of magnesium, zinc, boron and vitamin K. Vitamin D has many co-factors, but these are the four Americans are the most likely to be deficient in. A large handful of seeds and nuts, together with whole grains, will help with the first three and green leafy vegetables with the vitamin K. Trader Joe’s sells sunflower and almond butter, both excellent sources of magnesium, zinc, and boron.
Finally, expect anger and defensiveness from many in the medical profession. Remember, if I’m right, it was not the evil power plants, or the mercury polluters, or the vaccine industry that caused your son’s autism. It was the CDC, the NIH, the AMA, and all the other committees and organizations that fell for the dermatologists' calculations (the cosmetic industry will give me a larger grant if I warn about sunlight) and who then blasphemed the Sun God. That is, the worst charge you can level against medicine, “You have violated your primary duty; you have caused harm.” If I am right, the current autism epidemic is the worst iatrogenic disease in human history.
I am so glad your husband is starting to interact with his son more. As far as hope goes, Emily Dickenson once wrote:
Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune
Without the words,
and never stops at all.
John Cannell MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
April 2, 2010
Update on Autism and Vitamin D
This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter. If you are not subscribed, you can do so on the Vitamin D Council’s website.
Swedish Researchers on the Right Trail
I continue to get encouraging emails – like the one at the end of this newsletter – from parents of autistic children. At the same time, some researchers in the USA continue to deride my theory while scientists in Sweden are starting to piece it together. Three Swedish papers were published this month that support the vitamin D theory of autism.
In the first paper, Dr. Mats Humble and his colleagues – at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm – measured vitamin D levels on 117 adult psychiatric outpatients. They found that the 10 adult patients with autism had the lowest 25(OH)D levels of any of the other groups, including the patients with schizophrenia and depression, an average of about 12 ng/ml, a level known to cause rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Even more interesting, they reported that some of the patients with depression and schizophrenia seemed to improve when treated with an average of about 4,000 IU of vitamin D per day. They did not say if they treated any of the vitamin D deficient autism patients.
Humble MB et al. Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) among psychiatric out-patients in Sweden: Relations with season, age, ethnic origin and psychiatric diagnosis. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2010 Mar 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Mothers of autistic children have very low 25(OH)D levels
The second paper, by Dr. Elisbeth Fernell and colleagues – from various institutions in Sweden – measured vitamin D levels in mothers about six years after they had given birth to a child now diagnosed with autism. The Somali mothers had very low vitamin D levels, less than 10 ng/ml. The trend was in the direction of lower vitamin D levels for Somali mothers with autistic children, compared to Somali mothers without an autistic child.
Fernell E et al. Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in mothers of Swedish and of Somali origin who have children with and without autism. Acta Paediatr. 2010 Mar 5. [Epub ahead of print]
Another scientist endorses the vitamin D theory of autism.
The third paper, an invited editorial in Acta Paediatrica by Dr. Darryl Eyles – of the University of Queensland – was more interesting, at least to me, as he issued an outright endorsement of my autism theory, not that it is proven, but that it is parsimonious, a word and concept I love. Darryl is a prolific researcher and was involved in many of the rat studies that showed gestational vitamin D deficiency damages the brains of the infant rat pups. It was the work of Dr. Eyles, together with that of Dr. John McGrath, which helped me formulate my vitamin D theory of autism. I wrote about their research in 2005, before I realized that the human brain damage I wrote about was manifesitng itself as the autism epidemic. Shortly after I wrote the newsletter below, I saw an autistic child at a shopping mall and started my research into autism and vitamin D.
Cannell JJ. The Tuskegee Experiment. Vitamin D Newsletter 7/17/05
Anyway, this month Dr. Eyles said, “Low maternal vitamin D remains a highly parsimonious explanation for certain prominent features of autism,” explaining how well their animal data fits with human data on autism. Perfect parsimony is when one theory explains all the known facts, and if there is one major autism fact the vitamin D theory of autism cannot explain, I have yet to locate it.
Eyles DW. Vitamin D and Autism, Does skin colour modify risk? Acta Paediatr. 2010 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Pregnant women need 5,000 IU/day
Dr. Eyles discussed the crucial importance of all pregnant women having adequate amounts of vitamin D and said he was eagerly awaiting the results of the clinical trial Bruce Hollis and Carol Wagner of the Medical University of South Carolina have conducted. They have given 4,000 IU/day to pregnant women, comparing that to 400 IU/day (the amount in prenatal vitamins) and to 2,000 IU/day.
However, several months in Brugge, Belgium, ago Dr. Hollis recently presented some of the data from his clinical trial, reporting that 4,000 IU/day in pregnancy is not only safe, but significantly reduces complications of pregnancy more than 2,000 IU/day does and a lot more than 400 IU/day does. All pregnant women should be on at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day and take neither cod liver oil nor any retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate (vitamin A).
Dear Dr. Cannell: (email received 5 weeks ago)
I have just recently learned about the Vitamin D link with autism. I am starting to supplement my 12- year old on because it is such a cheap and easy thing to do, with low risk. I want so much to be able to help him!! I am hoping very much that this will help, yet I am afraid to hope! He has Asperger’s type autism, and he was recently diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, which is no surprise to me considering his very oppositional behavior. So, my question is: has Vitamin D supplementation helped children like my son? Is it too late??
He really is an indoor kid. He is a red-head and burns easily and I’ve always protected him from the sun, thinking he must get enough vitamin D from the milk we drink. Well, I was probably wrong, I feel so guilty—is it to late? I am starting him on 5000 IU of D3; considering he is starting puberty now and weighs almost 110 pounds; does this sound reasonable? Has anyone out there seen help for high-functioning kids? He has so much social dysfunction, self-stimulatory behavior (belly-smacking and hair pulling, nail biting, etc.), paranoia, attention problems, and real difficulty with group dynamics, and of course, obsession with computers.
He is really smart (yet can barely use this because of his behavior), and wonderful with small children, animals, severely disabled children, and the elderly. Isn’t that interesting?? I am hoping that this helps. PLEASE reply to me email. My husband and I are discouraged and depressed about it all, and concerned for my son’s future. His doctors imply there is no hope and think vitamin D is nonsense. I can barely get my husband to interact with my son anymore—he is so discouraged by our son’s negativity and defiant behavior. I realize there is no “magic” pill, but please let me know if there is any hope.
Terry, Nebraska
Dear Terry:
There is always hope. As I wrote in my autism paper, I think a treatment effect is likely, especially with younger children. The fact that your son is 12 years old makes it less likely that vitamin D will have a treatment effect but it is certainly worth trying. I think it likely that there are two reasons why some parents do not see a treatment effect in their autistic children. Again, a treatment effect is quite different than a cure.
The first reason is that many of these children have been overdosed with vitamin A, either as bolus doses (large one time doses) some DAN practitioners use or from the 3,500 IU of preformed retinol in the powdered multivitamin commonly used for autistic children. Be sure to stop any cod liver oil or any vitamin A that he may be taking in his multivitamins or other supplements. No one knows how long it takes for excess vitamin A to get out of the body but, as no known mechanism exists for its degradation, it may take years.
This is very different than vitamin D. Vitamin D is transformed in the cells of the body to a steroid hormone, calcitriol. It functions by turning genes on and off; more than 1,000 such genes have been discovered. As soon as it functions to turn on or off the genes in question, perhaps a matter of seconds, the calcitriol is rapidly degraded to calcitroic acid and then removed from the body. Thus, unlike vitamin A, which is used again and again, vitamin D is rapidly catabolized (degraded), removed from the body, and must be replenished.
The second reason for a poor response in autism is dose. Autistic children need aggressive doses of vitamin D, not maintenance doses. Think of it like treating rickets. My advice is to give enough vitamin D to get him to at least a 100 ng/ml and if that does not work increase the dose until his 25(OH)D level is 150 ng/ml. This will require 2,000 – 5,000 IU/day/25 pounds of body weight, and occasionally more than that.
However, he will need frequent 25(OH)D levels as these are pharmacological doses, not physiological ones, meaning these doses should only be given, and monitored, in the hope of a treatment effect in the serious disease that has been linked to vitamin D deficiency. It is best done under the care of a knowledgeable physician. I know that is not always possible and time is of the essence in autism as it is a progressive inflammatory brain disease.
Good luck, my prayers are with you.
John Cannell, MD
Dear Dr. Cannell:
My 12-year-old autistic son is doing better on 5,000 IU of Vit. D3 every day, after only one month! I explained to him why he needs to take it, and he is fine with it. So, it has been over 1 month now. I was planning to get a 25 (OH)D test at the 3 month mark; should I stick to that? Is it a hard test?
His behavior has improved in almost all areas. He is still obsessive about his favorite computer games of course, and still smacks his belly when he really feels like it, but it overall is better. He has been doing much better in school behavior wise and has earned his privileges back in several areas. I don't feel so desperate about everything anymore. He does still throw fits, but everything has been a little more manageable. I have also been bringing him to the YMCA for swimming, hoping more exercise is good for him. He is still very self-focused. I don't know if that will ever change, after all, that is what autism IS.
I have reduced his meds a little, esp. on non-school days. I have reduced his Adderall by eliminating his third dose in the afternoon, and reduced his second daily dose of Risperdal and Zoloft. (He was not ever on large doses, quite moderate or small ones). One of my friends told me his meds were making him worse but all these meds helped when we started them but now I cannot tell the difference on these lower doses, so I am very happy about that.
I haven't talked to his doctors about it all yet. I am waiting for our next appointment. I have asked them many times about what would be good supplements for him, and all they have ever said is for him to take a multivitamin daily. I don't think that ever helped at all. I stopped his multivitamin because I don't want the vitamin A to antagonize the Vit. D. He does eat fruit well, and some veggies.
Both my husband and I are daring to hope and my husband is starting to interact with him again. Thanks again for helping people and writing to me. My blessings to you!
Terry, Nebraska
Dear Terry:
This is very hopeful, especially the improvement in face of the reductions in his medications. My advice is to continue his vitamin D at 5,000 IU per day for now and continue taking him to the YMCA for swimming and make sure it is an outdoor pool during the middle of the day. His sun-exposure should occur when the sun is high enough up in the sky so his shadow is shorter than he is, the shorter the better, the more skin the better. If he is outdoors in these conditions frequently enough, his 5,000 IU/day supplement and the sun should raise his 25(OH)D to about 100 ng/ml.
As he is red-headed and fair-skinned, use no sunblock for the first 10 minutes, or the time it takes for his skin to begin to turn slightly pink, and then put it on. I recommend sunblock that contains zinc oxide, titanium oxide or both. In spite of his fair skin, I predict that as his vitamin D level goes up, you will notice he tans with sun exposure; and then he will need less sunblock.
Obtain a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (not a 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D) every month. You want his 25(OH)D to be high, as high as a lifeguard in Miami in August, so at least 100 ng/ml. Then, even if he is responding to 100 ng/ml, the question arises, “Would he respond even better at 150 ng/ml? From what we know, this is perfectly safe as long as you get regular 25(OH)D tests and keep his 25(OH)D under 150 ng/ml. Documented toxicity (almost always asymptomatic hypercalcemia) has never been reported with 25(OH)D levels less than 200 ng/ml.
On our website, you can order in-home vitamin D testing. After you pay $65.00, ZRT will send you a test kit. You will need to stick his finger or his heel to get a small amount of blood on the blotter paper in the ZRT test kit. Maybe a nurse or a paramedic who you know will stick his finger or heel if you can’t stand to do it. If you mess up the first time, just contact ZRT, they will send you another test kit for free.
As far as reducing his psychiatric medication, be sure to do it very slowly, as an abrupt discontinuation may worsen his condition. His Adderall is an amphetamine stimulant, his Risperdal is an antipsychotic and his Zoloft is an antidepressant, but all can be helpful in autism. Also, be sure his psychiatrist is OK with slow reductions in his medication. Ignore anyone who tells you his psychiatric medications made him worse; they have their own agenda and it is not to help your son.
Also, make sure your son has a source of magnesium, zinc, boron and vitamin K. Vitamin D has many co-factors, but these are the four Americans are the most likely to be deficient in. A large handful of seeds and nuts, together with whole grains, will help with the first three and green leafy vegetables with the vitamin K. Trader Joe’s sells sunflower and almond butter, both excellent sources of magnesium, zinc, and boron.
Finally, expect anger and defensiveness from many in the medical profession. Remember, if I’m right, it was not the evil power plants, or the mercury polluters, or the vaccine industry that caused your son’s autism. It was the CDC, the NIH, the AMA, and all the other committees and organizations that fell for the dermatologists' calculations (the cosmetic industry will give me a larger grant if I warn about sunlight) and who then blasphemed the Sun God. That is, the worst charge you can level against medicine, “You have violated your primary duty; you have caused harm.” If I am right, the current autism epidemic is the worst iatrogenic disease in human history.
I am so glad your husband is starting to interact with his son more. As far as hope goes, Emily Dickenson once wrote:
Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul.
And sings the tune
Without the words,
and never stops at all.
John Cannell MD
Executive Director
Vitamin D Council
This newsletter may be reproduced as long as you properly and prominently attribute it source. Please reproduce it, post it on Internet sites, and forward it to your friends.
Remember, we are a non-profit and rely on your donations to publish our newsletter, maintain our website, and pursue our objectives. Send your tax-deductible contributions to:
The Vitamin D Council
1241 Johnson Ave., #134
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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