anthony zablocki said:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

THAT WOULD BE EVERYONE!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I DON’T SEE ANYTHING ON HERE ABOUT THE CONNECTION OF “ASPERTAME” WITH AUTISM!!!!!!!! THEY APPROVED THE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER “ASPERTAME” IN 1981.
SINCE THEN, THERE IS PROOF THAT “ASPERTAME” CAUSES NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND BRAIN TUMORS IN LAB ANIMALS. THERE HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN BRAIN TUMORS SINCE THEN ALSO. THEY SAY THAT THE PROBLEMS ALSO CAN PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATION IN THE GENES.

“ASPERTAME” IS USED IN AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DIET “SUGAR FREE” PRODUCTS. DID THEY EVER THINK OF TRYING TO ADD 2 PLUS 2 AND GET 4 (INSTEAD OF 3 1/2).

JUST WONDERING?????

GOD BLESS ALL

WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME??????!!!!!!!

        anthony zablocki said:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

THAT WOULD BE EVERYONE!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I DON’T SEE ANYTHING ON HERE ABOUT THE CONNECTION OF “ASPERTAME” WITH AUTISM!!!!!!!! THEY APPROVED THE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER “ASPERTAME” IN 1981.
SINCE THEN, THERE IS PROOF THAT “ASPERTAME” CAUSES NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND BRAIN TUMORS IN LAB ANIMALS. THERE HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN BRAIN TUMORS SINCE THEN ALSO. THEY SAY THAT THE PROBLEMS ALSO CAN PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATION IN THE GENES.

“ASPERTAME” IS USED IN AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DIET “SUGAR FREE” PRODUCTS. DID THEY EVER THINK OF TRYING TO ADD 2 PLUS 2 AND GET 4 (INSTEAD OF 3 1/2).

JUST WONDERING?????

GOD BLESS ALL

oops-spelled “Aspartame” wrong

THAT WOULD BE EVERYONE!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE I DON’T SEE ANYTHING ON HERE ABOUT THE CONNECTION OF “ASPERTAME” WITH AUTISM!!!!!!!! THEY APPROVED THE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER “ASPERTAME” IN 1981.
SINCE THEN, THERE IS PROOF THAT “ASPERTAME” CAUSES NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND BRAIN TUMORS IN LAB ANIMALS. THERE HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN BRAIN TUMORS SINCE THEN ALSO. THEY SAY THAT THE PROBLEMS ALSO CAN PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATION IN THE GENES.

“ASPERTAME” IS USED IN AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DIET “SUGAR FREE” PRODUCTS. DID THEY EVER THINK OF TRYING TO ADD 2 PLUS 2 AND GET 4 (INSTEAD OF 3 1/2).

JUST WONDERING?????

GOD BLESS ALL

Also, the statistical rise of autism is not on one scale alone. Asperger’s Syndrome is on the rise and so is autism, but the two diagnoses are not now being combined into one statistical unit.

        JParker said:

Improved neo and prenatal care may reduced the numbers of children born with mental retardation. There also appears to be some correlation between premature birth and autism. As the quanity and survival rate children born prematurely increase autism will also increase. So the same technologies that are reducing retardation may be increasing autism.

Personally I like the idea that IT and the internets have enabled the “autistically recessive” to meetup and have children. But it is too simple an explanation and therefore likely wrong. It might be fun to throw together a chart with a slope showing incidence of children born to families where both parents have a degree in computer/math/science/engineering.

Speculation is fine, but it must always be separated from fact and a hard wall placed between what we know and have evidence for and what we think might be the case.

Lets therefore not forget that we have no proof or compelling evidence for this, but it is simply a rough hypothesis that some may favor as being a likely apparent source.

Personally I like the idea that IT and the internets have enabled the “autistically recessive” to meetup and have children. But it is too simple an explanation and therefore likely wrong. It might be fun to throw together a chart with a slope showing incidence of children born to families where both parents have a degree in computer/math/science/engineering.

Every person worries about things, but when does it become a stress disorder? Everyone gets some anxiety in certain social situations but when is it a social disorder? Everyone has highs and lows, but when is it manic depression?

There are some people who clearly have a mental disorder but there’s a large gray area. There are a lot of times when the question of a disorder becomes subjective. For example: When does a kid have ADD versus the fact that all kids get distracted and don’t have an infinite attention span?

I’m wondering if we are getting a bit diagnosis-happy in this society. I don;t know one way or the other, but I’m just speculating that these days there are a lot of people who might go looking for a “disorder” to explain why their kid is sometimes upset or not always 100% social or something. It might have been chalked up to “he’s kinda shy and a quiet kid” in the past. It could be muddying the waters between who has a real disorder and who is just borderline and doesn’t really need to be treated like they’re handicapped.

        DOUG AK said:

I disagree about autism spectrum disorders being something that makes people become isolated. Yes, there are people who are severely autistic and handicapped by it and can’t communicate and can’t live like a normal person.

That’s my whole point, that was the way it was, now things are different.

        DV82XL said:

What was happening is that these folks live isolated lives, saying forever with aging parents, or by themselves in relative isolation. But the internet has changed all that and these people are getting together, getting militant at what they feel mistreatment by neurotypicals (a term they coined), and hooking up with each other. I understand there are school districts near Silicon Valley with huge numbers of autistic student whose parents work in high tech.

I disagree about autism spectrum disorders being something that makes people become isolated. Yes, there are people who are severely autistic and handicapped by it and can’t communicate and can’t live like a normal person. My nephew is now 22 and in college and he was diagnosed with Aspergers (sp?), which is an autism spectrum disorder and I know him and his family well because we live in the same town. He is very social and seems very normal. He is very social. When he was a young child he was very quiet and he got very shy when people wanted him to talk, especially that he didn’t know. He seemed like he had stagefright when ever people talked to him he’d be very shy. He was not shy with people he knew well. He had friends in school and everything, but he was a little goofey not in a bad way . I do not know if this is enough to call someone autism-spectrum disorder because I am not a doctor. It just seems to me like a nerdy kid but this is apparently what is considered an ASD these days? I don’t know. Not everyone with it has the same thing.