Test for ASD is 81% accurate

[Cuppasoupmonster]

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11606719/Scientists-create-test-autism-detects-disorder-single-strand-HAIR.html

Sorry it’s our least beloved newspaper. No agenda in sharing this, just wanted polite discussion. It seems a high level of accuracy - but if 81% of ASD is caused by toxic metals then how come there is a strong hereditary link? 🧐

I think the most important point in that article is 'Dr Scott Myers, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at the Geisinger Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute, added: 'There is certainly much more work to be done before concluding that this test is a valid measure of autism spectrum disorder risk.''

It doesn't say autism is caused by toxic metals. Correlation =/= causation.

No, but it’s an interesting correlation if it is that, and has just piqued my curiosity. Hoping someone with a sciencey background can make some observations…

Dr Scott Myers seems to have a 'sciencey background'

This theory has been around for a long time. Take with a massive pinch of salt - or heavy metals.

He isn’t on MN as far as I know

There's no one cause of autism it's a neurodevelopmental disorder and a huge spectrum my son was diagnosed at three he also a rare chromosomes disorder thought to be the underlying cause of his severe autism and learning disabilities but people with the same of similar disorders don't alwaYs get diagnosed

It doesn't say it causes autism it says there is a correlation between high levels of heavy metals in hair and autism

It could be that people who are genetically predisposed to autism are also genetically predisposed to struggle to remove heavy metals from their system, so they hold higher levels in their hair.

Or it could be entirely unrelated.

At one point it was thought that herpes (HSV) caused cervical cancer because there was a correlation between having herpes and developing cervical cancer.

But actually it turned out that that was because cervical cancer was caused by something you could get from unprotected sex (HPV) and herpes is something you can get from unprotected sex so although there is a correlation there isn't causation.

And at the moment it seems there is correlation but they have not proved causation and so it could be something completely coincidental.

The current system can't handle early intervention in any capacity so I'm amazed they are saying early diagnosis will be helped by early intervention. This is deluded, the system is completely broken.

(Someone who's child was diagnosed at 2).

Autism causing or not, is ingesting metals a good idea?

Why are there metals in vaccines? Why can't there be no metals? No one ever explains any of this stuff - like we don't deserve to know.

I'd agree with this, but I think knowing your child is autistic early on would possibly help parents. I know I made many mistakes with DC1 when she was young because we thought we were parenting a neurotypical child. With DC2 we were much better parents simply because we knew it was possible he was autistic too, so parented him with this in mind.

@ILoveeCakes we need some metals, eg iron, zinc, etc

Yes, I know. But why do they need injecting alongside other stuff?
This is what I mean. Why can't people give proper and honest answers?
Just give out the info and doubts and BS goes away.

www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/should-we-worry-about-metals-vaccines

I'll believe it when the results are replicated with a random blind study on a large scale by independent scientists. Until then it's just another theory.

This is just fluff. It is written to just tell people not to worry - "trust us".
Where does it explain why mercury (mercury! it's f-ing toxic) is in these vaccines in the first place. It doesn't. It just tells us not to worry. I don't want to be told. I want to be informed.

why is it in there at all? This is what I'm asking. No one wants to answer.

Then let's look at this quote - which is probably designed to be reassuring:
"There are good reasons not to want (methyl) mercury in our lakes and rivers, because it is toxic to humans. There is no good reason to be worried about ethyl (mercury) in vaccines. Largely because there isn’t any in most of them."

Ah, don't worry about toxic mercury, it isn't even in most vaccines. But it is in some? Ok - why? I'm just asking why mercury is being injected into people, especially given it is known to be very very toxic.

Why?

I know you don't know, but at least admit that.

Hypothesis

Semantics

Science and the lost art of precision. Just trust "the science"!

@ILoveeCakes they took initial samples of hair from a 1 month old and found that higher levels of metals at 1 month correlates with ASD diagnosis at age 4. 1 month old babies have not had vaccines yet, the higher levels of metals at that age won’t be linked to vaccines. And it can’t be due to vaccines in the mothers as many women with an autistic child have others without, including identical twins who share the same genes and pre-natal environment.

Its an interesting study, although I wonder whether it would be replicated on a larger scale. I wonder if those diagnosed were ‘low-functioning’, as the cases were picked up and diagnosed by age 4, they’re possibly more severely autistic (non-verbal for example) as many high functioning cases aren’t referred for diagnosis until much later.

Either way it could be useful in early intervention (if replicated), but as the NHS is currently fucked I doubt they’d fund it.

I am a university professor and do research on autism.

This article is rubbish. Autism is largely genetic and not linked to heavy metals. The study is published is a low quality journal bay group who are trying to sell a product so there is a clear bias.

Don't believe science in the daily mail.

Regarding your statement about not being told why it is used - I just googled "role of mercury in vaccines" and the top result was a CDC link which explained that it is a preservative used to keep the vaccine free from contamination.

Do we need to inhest metals? Some yes, the following metals we cannot love without:

sodium
potassium
magnesium
calcium
Iron
manganese
cobalt
copper
zinc
molybdenum

What metals are in vaccines
aluminium in the form of salts like you might find in antacids, dental cement or baking powder

this makes the vaccine work better , because its been found to make the body build a stronger immunity against the virus its innoculating against. I can find some more detailed explanations if you are interested. there are studies being done to see if calcium could replace it i believe.

ethyl Mercury which has a half life of less than a week, and the dose is roughly the same as eating 1 can of tuna, but its the less toxic form than you find in tuna

Its a preservative that why it's in there. There are Mercury free vaccines for some things that you can get now. but I'm not sure off the top of my head what preservative (if any) they have replaced it with

Oh and the type of mercury in vaccines isn’t the same as the type found in lakes @ILoveeCakes! That’s the difference. The type in vaccines leaves the body quickly and doesn’t build up. And studies have shown no link to autism.

There’s scientific evidence about the link between heavy metals & cognitive disorders — e.g. the NHS’s website cites studies that link heavy metals to Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias.

Other recent studies have linked the presence of heavy metals with ADS & ADHD, though the exact nature of that link is unclear. For example, in a study of Romanian children with ADS, high amounts of heavy metals such as aluminium and arsenic were detected. But the scientists were unclear whether their presence could be explained by entirely environmental factor, genetics, or both (i.e. genetically predisposed to being more sensitive to environments where heavy metals are present).