Relationship between Autism & Gulf War Syndrome - Organophosphate pesticides
Subject: Relationship between Autism & Gulf War Syndrome - Organophosphate pesticides
Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 11:28:39 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read the following that originally came from a Northern Ireland contact: <ian@mascot.free-online.co.uk on the following: The Organic Basis of M.E and Related Illnesses - Professor Malcolm Hooper.
Professor Hooper started his talk at our 2001 conference by making it clear that he is not a clinician but that his background and interest is in drugs, drug development, drug action and drugs and diseases. But this background, education, training and research has been done in an area which is readily transferable to the issues of M.E./C.F.S., Gulf War Illness and Organo-Phosphate poisoning. He then went on to say that he got involved in the whole area through the Gulf War Veterans. He gave details of the wide range of things that the Gulf War Veterans were exposed to, which are possibly involved and responsible for their illness. These represented a massive assault of biological and chemical toxins, the consequences ofwhich have been very dramatic and distressing.
The features of Gulf War Syndrome were very similar to what the Americans call Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (M.E.) and he put up an overhead listing many of the symptoms common to the 2 illnesses. He went on to show the interaction of symptoms with other illnesses, such as MS, Fibromyalgia, Multi Chemical Sensitivity and AIDS.
Next Professor Hooper went on to say how we are exposed to greater and greater sources of environmental toxins in the air and in such things as our carpets, furniture etc. He said that in the arctic Inuit mothers are now being advised to not breast-feed their babies for longer than 2 weeks because they are carrying too much Organo-Chlorine in their breast milk as a result of the contamination of the seals and fish that they are eating. So, everybody is affected by the toxins that are put into our environment.
Professor Hooper described how the Merck Manual (a reference book for clinicians) lists ME/CFS and Gulf War Syndrome under Syndromes of Uncertain Origin and he went on to say how all the normal laboratory tests come back as normal. These illnesses share major features, such as neurological problems, the autonomic nervous system (which controls things like our bladder control, salvation, sweating, blood pressure), peripheral nervous system (resulting in things like pins and needles, numbness), central nervous system effects (such as memory problems, cognition problems, problems with thinking - brain fog), cardiovascular problems (problems with blood pressure regulation), immunological problems (get sick and can't seem to shake it off), endocrine problems (related to controlling the thyroid, sexual system, libido, growth hormone), gastrointestinal function (disturbed digestive system, irritable bowel syndrome) and the respiratory system. So what we have is a multi organ, multi insult, toxin related group of symptoms which is shared by everybody, but seem to be derived from different major insults or toxins. Organo Phosphate fits into this category on this account.
Professor Hooper made the point that there is a concerted attempt to explain these illnesses away.
When the normal routine tests done by doctors come back as normal,Professor Hooper felt that doctors should consider doing some of the non-routine tests to try and find out what is going on. He went on to say how some medical people hold the view that these illnesses are somatisation, a psychiatric response to illness, driven by the mind and resulting in this change of behaviour. Professor Hooper said he had never bought in to this theory, partly because there is so much evidence showing organic dysfunction, but also because of how psychiatrists once described other illnesses, such as Parkinson's Disease and Diabetes in this way. Before the physical basis of the illnesses were better understood.
Professor Hooper described how some psychiatrists were trying to reclassify M.E./C.F.S. as fatigue syndromes, a group of illnesses classified as mental and behavioural disorders. This would then result in M.E./C.F.S being regarded as a mental or psychiatric disorder. If this were to happen it would have far reaching consequences for the patient and the clinician. It would also have far reaching effects on the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of the illness.
Next Professor Hooper went on to try and explain what he believed M.E./C.F.S. and the many inter-related conditions were. He started by explaining about his association with Paul Shattock and the Autism Research Unit at the University of Sunderland. There they have a test, called the IAG test, which shows abnormalities in the urine of autistic children. He went on to describe the test and how they had started to do the test on people with Gulf War Illness and M.E./C.F.S. and that they were finding in many of these similar abnormalities to those found in autistic children.
He then went on to describe in some detail the possible biochemistry of what is going on in the body with regard to Autism and how this understanding can help us understand what is happening in M.E./C.F.S. and related illnesses.
Then he described how these biochemical substances could affect different areas and systems in the body and how some of these chemical pathways inthe body work (there was just too much detail to try and summarise it here). In this section Professor Hooper 's description of how these things work showed how different types of supplements could play a part in restoring normal function in some areas.
Professor Hooper finished his talk by explaining how he believed different things interacted to produce the different illnesses and how the chemistry was involved. He also went over different medications and supplements and how they could possibly help.
We now have a video of Professor Hooper's talk and the question and discussion session available. This can be obtained by sending a cheque for £10 to Derek in the office. The tape is approximately three and a half hours long. This video will provide much more information than I have been able to here in this summary of Professor's talk.
Well Mr. Helliker, the evidence continues to mount against the continued use/misuse of your "registered" POISONS. It has been said that what is not done for love is done for money. Franklin Delano Roosevelt once noted: "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism." We the people are guaranteed by our Constitution - Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To allow the POISON "industry" to continue to destroy our lives, our liberty and our happiness is extremely dangerous to our democracy. "Someone" is a traitor and/or a fascist. All you have to do is "follow the money" to find out who is who! When will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective unregistered alternatives to actually control pest problems without destroying our future in the process?
Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten
If you would like to be included in our mailing list for continuing information on pesticides, Email Us. with "subscribe" in the subject line.