“In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist at London’s Royal Free Hospital, published a study in the prestigious medical journal Lancet that linked the triple Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism and bowel disorders in children. The study — and Wakefield’s subsequent public statements that parents should refuse the vaccines — sparked a public health panic that led vaccination rates in Britain to plunge.

Wakefield’s study has since been discredited, and the MMR vaccine deemed to be safe. But now medical authorities in the U.K. have also ruled that the manner in which Wakefield carried out his research was unethical. In a ruling on Jan. 28, The General Medical Council, which registers and regulates doctors in the U.K., ruled that Wakefield acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” during his research and with “callous disregard” for the children involved in his study.”

…

“The panel also criticized Wakefield for failing to disclose that, while carrying out the research, he was being paid by lawyers acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR jab.

The panel’s ruling follows a refutation of Wakefield’s research from the scientific community. Ten of 13 authors in the Lancet study have since renounced the study’s conclusions. The Lancet has said it should not have published the study in the first place, and various other studies have failed to corroborate Wakefield’s hypothesis.”

Children aged 2-5 years with autism or other ASD had similar blood Hg concentrations to TD controls after adjustment for a variety of home and medical Hg sources. This finding was maintained when analysis was restricted to non-fish eaters.  Blood Hg levels in both controls and cases were very close to those of a nationally representative sample of 1-5 year olds in the U.S.

Incorrectly diagnosed, elevated mercury levels in children with autism are often used as justification for chelation therapy, a treatment in which patients are given a drug that binds to heavy metals to be excreted in urine.  This treatment is approved for severe lead poisoning, but has no valid basis for use in the treatment of autism.  Possible risks include Nausea,v omiting, body pains, neutropenia, and death.  

Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review states that “No scientific evidence … that chelation is an effective therapy.” *source

[Hertz-Picciotto I and others. Blood mercury concentrations in CHARGE Study: Children with and without autism. Environmental Health Perspectives, Oct 19, 2009] The complete report is available at http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/0900736/0900736.pdf

Worried about your child?  The simplest way for a parent to determine whether their child may have Autism or a similar disorder is to use the list of criteria from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.  It is easy enough for even parents to be able to evaluate their children within a reasonable degree, allowing for early recognition and thus, further medical assessment and intervention.

Additional methods of diagnosis are available, the simplest for toddlers being the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) typically issued by a GP at the child’s 18 month checkup.  There is also the M-CHAT, or Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers.

The American Psychiatric Association guidelines are as follows:

A. To qualify for a diagnosis, a person must have a total of six or more items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1) and one each from (2) and (3):

1. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, manifest by at least two of the following:

• A. Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures and gestures, to regulate social interaction
• B. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
• C. Lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
• D. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity

2. Qualitative impairment in communication, as manifest by at least one of the following:

• A. Delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
• B. In individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
• C. Stereotyped and repetitive use of language, or idiosyncratic language
• D. Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe, or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level

3. Restrictive repetitive and stereotypic patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

• A. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
• B. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific nonfunctional routines or rituals
• C. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
• D. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.

B. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years:

1. Social interaction

2. Language as used in social communication

3. Symbolic or imaginative play

C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Retts Disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.