My 7-year-old son has Asperger's. Yes, it sounds like something you'd get at a deli -- something with sauerkraut on rye, maybe. Asperger's is a neurological disorder, related to autism, that makes kids respond different than "normal" to sensory input and to other people. The incidence of Autism and the less severe Asperger's has risen at least fifteenfold (15 times!!) since thimerosal (mercury) was added to infant and children's vaccines as a preservative between 1989 and 2003. My son, born in 1997, is a member of the "thimerosal generation."
After years of discounting the rumored link between autism and vaccines, I just read the salon.com article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about thimerosal in vaccines, specifically how the government (CDC, FDA, for starters) has conspired NOT to protect children but to cover up evidence to (naturally) protect BIG PHARMACEUTICAL. I'm not surprised. But somehow, when I read about DR. Frist's role in this conspiracy, I got too angry to continue reading.
More on what pushed my buttons below:
Why am I'm especially angry at Frist? Well, DeLay is an exterminator by trade, and somehow, that seems kind of appropriate for a Republican politician these days. But to pose as a medical doctor, not only with his tele-diagnosis of Schiavo but to collaborate with BigPharm at the expense of CHILDREN's health seems, well, unspeakable. In my book, he gave up the right to be called Dr. when he became a corrupt Republican Senator, morality on sale to the highest bidder, like the rest of them.
From the article:
[The drug companies are also getting help from powerful lawmakers in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who has received $873,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, has been working to immunize vaccine makers from liability in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the parents of injured children. On five separate occasions, Frist has tried to seal all of the government's vaccine-related documents -- including the Simpsonwood transcripts -- and shield Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal, from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist quietly slipped a rider known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" into a homeland security bill, the company contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism.
Congress repealed the measure in 2003 -- but earlier this year, Frist slipped another provision into an anti-terrorism bill that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders. "The lawsuits are of such magnitude that they could put vaccine producers out of business and limit our capacity to deal with a biological attack by terrorists," says Andy Olsen, a legislative assistant to Frist.]
The article can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/du9wg
An additional article is here:
http://tinyurl.com/d8dr7
Actually, I'm luckier than most of the parents of the kids in my son's class. One mother has an Asperger's child AND an Autistic child on her hands, and she has a rough time of it. She has become an activist on the subject out of necessity.
I hadn't kept up on the vaccine link to autism because I'd heard there was nothing to it. But since at least 2000 the FDA and CDC KNEW of the link and intentionally commissioned new Mc-scientific studies in which researchers were ordered to "rule out" any chemical link. There has been conscious disinformation and cover-up to the public. (No blowjobs discovered yet, thankfully.)
My son is fully functioning and I don't in any way fear for his future. He has to work harder in school, and there are social skills -- how to interact with other kids without alienating them -- that he has to be taught specifically, things other kids pick up naturally. He is very smart, very verbal, but has some obsessive-compulsive tendencies, auditory sensitivity (like air vent noises in a building distract him from his work), the occasional panic attack. I am learning to cope with these and so is he.
Asperger's has a strong genetic component. My husband may be Aspie -- it tends to run from father to son. But I may even have some Aspie features. Aspies tend to glom onto a topic or interest obsessively -- I do that. (evidence: addiction to DailyKos) Aspies are often anti-social geeks, computer nerds, smart people who don't always mesh well with new people, like my husband.
As a result, I don't necessarily blame my child vaccinations for Asperger's per se. Some believe that kids with a genetic potential for Asperger's or Autism have non-standard immune systems, and the reaction to a toxin like mercury "unlocks" the gene. I don't feel like a victim or the mother of a victim. I feel like a mom of a kid who's unique and has unique gifts and challenges -- like every other kid.
But I might feel more militant if my child were severely disabled. As it is, I am too well-informed and (sadly) far too cynical when it comes to believing the government will protect me from greedy corporations. My expectations of my government are so fucking low that nothing shocks me anymore.
But I can still get angry. Now I have one more reason to hate Frist for his give-me-give-me politics. He doesn't give a shit about people. He doesn't give a shit about children.
Culture of life. Business as usual.