M.D. / Ph.D / Neurologist / Father of Hannah Poling Speaks out to the Snake-oil Vigilantes & Other Vaccination Propagandists

Bravo and thanks to Dr. Poling & Hannah for their bravery!
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Health Lover, Ilena Rosenthal
http://www.BreastImplantawareness.org/Snake-oil.htm
List of Barrett's "Posse" who haunt blogs & lists with industry
propaganda ... David "Orac Does NOT Know" Gorksi, Terry "Call me Vera
Teasdale" Polevoy, Disbarred attorney, Mark S Probert all included.

Novella is one of the fake anti-science pseudo-skeptics like those on
list above.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/07/d...ella.html#more

July 22, 2008
Dr. Jon Poling to Dr. Steven Novella: Don't Attack the Moms

Salem_witchManaging Editor's Note: The following is a letter sent to
Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University, from Dr. Jon
Poling. (We've printed the letter with permission.) Dr. Novella is the
founder of The New England Skeptical Society (meetings, 1st Tuesday of
the month, on the lawn of the House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA.
BYOB (bring your own blinders.) and is a contributing editor to
Quackwatch. Dr. Poling is a neurologist/PhD and the father of Miss
Hannah Poling.

Dear Dr. Novella,

Your assertion that the scientific question of Autism etiology belongs
to the medical community rather than Hollywood Stars is correct. I
also agree that Hollywood opinions are more likely to be broadcast to
millions because of their position in the media. This heightened
awareness is nothing but a positive thing for the million families
struggling with this difficult, and all too common, disorder. Jenny
McCarthy is an Autism Mom looking for answers and rattling some
cages—good for her. Amanda Peet is a new mom who believes in the
importance of vaccines to protect her baby—good for her too. Don’t
attack the moms, listen to them.

These issues are very complex as we exchanged before and not amenable
to soundbites. Regarding your entry on Hannah’s case, your blog entry
unfortunately propagates several of the mistakes from the media.

In criticizing the journalism of Mr. David Kirby, you wrote:

“He refers again to the Hannah Poling case, a girl with a
mitochondrial disorder who developed a neurodegenerative disorder with
“features of autism” after getting a fever from vaccines.”

Actually—Hannah has diagnoses of DSM-IV Autism (by JHU/KKI psychology)
and mitochondrial disorder (by two metabolic experts). The only
‘degeneration’ that occurred (along with 6mos of total growth failure)
after 18mos of NORMAL development followed vaccination and nothing
else! Of course, any ‘scientist’ can obviously point out that temporal
correlation in a single case never proves causation. Rule number one
of pediatrics though is “LISTEN TO THE MOM.” Are 10s of thousands of
autism moms over the last decade suffering from mass hysteria induced
by Hollywood? Not likely.

You also noted:

“This special case - which is not a case of autism being caused by
toxins in vaccines - says nothing about the broader vaccine-autism
debate.”

The only thing unique about my little girl’s case is the level of
medical documentation—5 to 20% of patients with ASDs have
mitochondrial dysfunction. Many other cases where mitochondrial
testing is WNL is because "we never looked" not because the testing
would be "within normal limits." Most mitochondrial experts will tell
you that the dots of autism and mitochondrial disorders are strongly
connected.

Finally, you say:

“The case was settled (not judged in Poling’s favor, but settled)
because both sides realized it was a special case that could not be
extrapolated to other vaccine-autism cases.”

The case was not settled, it was conceded by medical representatives
of Sec HHS. We are obviously pleased with the HHS decision to concede
our case, but we had NOTHING to do with the concession. This was a
unilateral decision from HHS (recall that HHS is the respondent,
rather than the vaccine maker, as manufacturers have blanket liability
protection afforded by the Vaccine Injury Program established in 1986)
I will not speculate on the obvious question—why concede? Hannah’s
case was positioned to set precedent as a test case in the Omnibus
Autism Proceedings for potentially thousands of other cases.

With regard to the science of Autism, I have no argument with the
assertion that a single case does not prove causation of a generalized
autism-vaccine link. What the case does illustrate though is a more
subtle point that many physicians cannot or do not want to comprehend
(ostensibly because vaccines are too important to even question).
Autism is a heterogeneous disorder defined by behavioral criteria and
having multiple causes. Epidemiological studies which have not found
a link between autism and aspects of vaccination do not consider the
concept of autism subgroups. Indeed, in a heterogeneous disorder like
Autism, subgroups may indeed be ‘vaccine-injured’ but the effect is
diluted out in the larger population (improperly powered study due to
inability to calculate effect size with unknown susceptible
subpopulation). I think former NIH Director, Dr. Bernadine Healey
explained it best in that population epidemiology studies are not
“granular” enough to rule-out a susceptible subgroup.

Furthermore, ‘science’ has not systematically studied the children who
fell ill following vaccination to determine what the cause(s) for
their adverse reaction was. It would follow that if you never tried
to understand why a single child developed encephalopathy following
vaccination—you wouldn’t have the first clue as to what aspects of
vaccination you could alter which could increase the relative risk of
that adverse event (whether it be thimerosal, live virus, or ‘too
many’). Could the susceptibility be a mitochondrial genetic haplogroup
similar to Chloramphenicol toxicity—sure it could! Why did a few
Alzheimer’s patients die of fatal encephalitis following
administration of the failed AN-1792 vaccine, but the majority had no
ill effects (vaccine didn’t work though)?

Definition: Autism is a heterogeneous systemic disorder with primary
neuropsychiatric manifestations due to complex genetic and
gene-environmental interactions likely affecting synaptic plasticity
early in childhood development. This new theory of Autism is rapidly
replacing the ‘old guard’ dictum that Autism is a genetically
predetermined developmental brain disorder of synaptic
formation/pruning that is set in motion prenatally. By the ‘10 year
rule of science,’ your time is about up!

Until the biological basis of ASD subgroups are better understood,
further epidemiological and genetic studies regarding “Autism”
causation will be relatively meaningless. We need good science to be
able to address these complex issues which parallel nicely the
emerging story of genetic and environmental influences in Parkinson’s
disease. Perhaps some Parkinson’s researchers want to take a crack at
Autism?

Recommended SCIENCE reading for the evening:

Altered calcium homeostasis in autism-spectrum disorders: evidence
from biochemical and genetic studies of the mitochondrial
aspartate/glutamate carrier AGC1. Mol Psychiatry 2008 Jul 8. (The
discussion includes thimerosal as a potential toxin that could trigger
further perturbations of calcium homeostasis leading to neuronal
injury—and in a mainstream Nature publication no less)

Thank-you Dr. Novella and his band of skeptics for continuing the
debate.

Dr. Jon Poling

Jon S. Poling MD PhD
Managing Partner, Athens Neurological Associates
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Medical College
of Georgia
Diplomate, American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic
Medicine
ASN Certified in MRI and CT Neuroimaging

Novella is yet another of the Quack Squad, 'advisor" for the
defamatory group headed by Barrett ... long a writer for hire for the
chemical & vaccination industries.
http://www.BreastImplantAwareness.or...WatchWatch.htm

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/07/dear-dr-novella.html
Responses to Healthfraud Novella