In the cool department we have amber with dinosaur feathers embedded in it. This is incredibly neat. First of all a bit of background since this is a new blog. I grew up in a world where the earth was millions of years old, dinosaurs did exist and they did die out before "The Flood" (the one that Christians and Jews believe in - more on that another day). However, this world also included a few "facts" that were taken as gospel by me and children like me. One of these points were that dinosaurs went extinct, did not evolve and most certainly did not later become birds. In addition, evolution was an evil teaching designed to blind men to the purpose of God putting humans on earth (an issue of "universal sovereignty" - who gets to tell people how they should live. Should God or the Devil or should man decide for himself? Stay tuned.) Anyway, in this worldview it is utterly impossible for dinosaurs to have had feathers. After all they were reptiles and reptiles don't have feathers. Furthermore, even though my religion was some weird mix of beliefs (man is only 6000 years old but the earth is millions) this finding puts a serious damper on the teachings of young earthers. Here are dinosaur feathers that are 78-79 million years old. Just thinking about time on that scale is somewhat astonishing. So a very, very cool finding and pictures I very much enjoyed. I want one - of the the feathers I mean. I've seen Jurassic Park and I do not want a dinosaur (I kid, I kid - I've also seen The Flinstones so maybe a dinosaur that vacuums and does the dishes would be ok!)
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| My 10 year old with autism in San Diego |
This story has made me quite upset. If you don't want to read the whole link and watch the disturbing videos I'll briefly sum it up for you. A trio of people, based apparently in Mexico, are touting a chemical concoction called MMS as a treatment for autism. MMS is mixed with citric acid to create chlorine dioxide. In case you are wondering chlorine dioxide is a BLEACHING AGENT used to bleach paper pulp! What do they advocate you do with this bleach compound? Why you make your child drink it (from a baby bottle if necessary), bathe in it and take enemas from it at levels well above any safe margin. Oh and according to these people (from the last linked site) we know that autism is caused by virus, bacteria, parasites, yeast, heavy metals, allergies and inflammation. I 'm not sure how we know that since no study or evidence is given to support this idea. The website is full of unsubstantiated claims. They pose the question: Isn't MMS snake oil? The answer: why no, snake oil isn't used in the treatment of autism.
Interesting thing about the history of MMS: In July and October 2010 the FDA issued warnings about the use of MMS as a treatment for cancer and HIV. A young man in the UK was instrumental in raising awareness about MMS there.
Sometimes people are so desperate for a cure, an improvement, an aid of any kind that they get tired of hearing "we don't know." True improvements in a child with autism take time and a lot of hard work. I've seen it with both of my boys (now 10 and 12 who both have autism). I've seen it with my students - I work with students with very severe autism who are mostly non-verbal and are placed at our school because of their extreme aggression. I've seen it in research I've done (I also have a master's degree in autism and applied behavioral analysis). So, yeah, I get that it is hard and scary and frustrating. I know how filled with despair you can be when you are told that there is no answer to make your child say "I love you" or even to look in your eyes. I know how hard you fight and work for each tiny victory. It can be tempting to listen to those with their own agendas, those who seem to have all the answers, who promise cures. But, in the end, nothing good comes of this pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo. Any group who tells you to only surround yourself with like minded people because they are the only ones who can understand should be suspect.
True research doesn't start with a premise and look for reasons to agree. True research looks for flaws in the premise. MMS and the ideas have a lot of flaws behind it. Two blinding ones: the voltage (demonstrating that the solution can't harm tissue). As very well explained here: Parasites and other things she claims are removed from the body are made up of the same tissues as human tissue. If it isn't hurting human tissue it is having no effect on this either. The other one starts with the whole understanding of what autism is. Autism may have an environmental component. But she starts with the idea that "pathogens" cause autism with no evidence to back this up. Autism is NOT caused by this idea of pathogens. It isn't caused by vaccines (which is a post for another day). I've often wondered why pick on vaccines. Why not say it is the plastic we surround ourselves with, or the fact that we use microwaves or any other wacky thing you can think of. It is really hard to accept that we don't know what causes autism. We don't have all the answers.
For the record neither of my children had a shot with mercury in it. They did have their shots. Oh and their dad - yeah, he's autistic. As in actually diagnosed autistic, didn't talk til he was 5 kind of stuff. We've never done any biomed stuff. My younger child is about to lose his autism diagnosis. Both of my boys are in general education classes with straight As and Bs. We stuck with the stuff that worked, lots and lots of hours of work by lots and lots of people. It wasn't easy - but I used science and science methods as my starting point. I ask all parents to be very, very careful about people who promise the world. Always research anything by trying to prove to yourself why it wouldn't work. In the end you are your child's only advocate.
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