Dear Dr. Rodier:

I heard that you made a comment that our national autism research agenda
is being run by "crazy people" who believe vaccines played a role in the
development of their child's autism. I am one of the "crazy people".

There is an epidemic of autism in the US and overseas. Recently in the
Lancet, the July 8th edition in the Correspondence section titled the
MMR Question, David Thrower and I wrote about the numbers that are seen.
One in 69 in east Surrey, England. The highest rate in the world. The US
Department of Education's figures that show an increase across the US.
This is not a genetic epidemic. It is due to an immune insult.

If it was a psychiatric disorder as Bruno Bettleheim thought ages ago,
then how come psychiatrists are not "curing" autistic children left and
right by sitting down with them and having sessions? I would hope you
still don't believe in the Refrigerator Mother theory, but then I'm not
so sure that you don't.

Regards to vaccines, I have had hundreds of parents and grandparents
contact me about their autistic children developing normally and then
going downhill into autism after vaccines. Some of these parents are in
the medical profession with MD and RN designations. Many of these
parents have gotten biopsies of the ileal and/or immune blood panel
tests. Did you know that the immune system and nervous system are
interconnected?....they don't teach this in the medical schools, but
should.

Our organization with other parent-run autism organizations are funding
autoimmune research into autism that the NIH is not looking at.
Unfortunately, they are funding dead-end projects that will yield no
answers or treatment modalities. The treatments that have helped
autistic children get better are autoimmune in nature....no genetic
treatment or prescription drug has improveed the lot of these children.

I would hope that you would educate yourself about what is really going
on with the autism epidemic by reading my web site at:
http://www.gti.net/truegrit/

The answers will come from doing autoimmune research and doing
independent, long-term safety studies on all the vaccines. Denying the
linkage will not stop the autism epidemic and if you have
children/grandchildren, you will wake up and see that the train has left
the station.

Raymond Gallup, President, parent and "crazy person"
Autism Autoimmunity Project 

The Truth is Out There. Those That Do Not Seek It Are Destined to Live
in Ignorance