Generation Rescue's Autism Focus
Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey Lead ASD Recovery Efforts
Oct 30, 2008
Jenny McCarthy is an actress, author, autism activist and mother of a child who has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. In recent years, she has become very vocal in her condemnation of vaccines as being a possible trigger for autism. Additionally, McCarthy tells her son’s story of recovery from autism through the use of the sometimes-controversial biomedical interventions.
McCarthy has teamed up with Jim Carrey to form the organization Generation Rescue. “Generation Rescue is an international movement of scientists, physicians and parent-volunteers researching the causes and treatments for autism and helping more than 20,000 children begin biomedical treatment.” (Source: Generation Rescue website) One of the goals of the organization is to prove that autism is reversible.
Biomedical Intervention Basics
Biomedical interventions can be any type of therapy or protocol that approaches healing from a non-traditional approach. The Defeat Autism Now (DAN!) Protocol is a well-known biomedical treatment option available. DAN! doctors test the child for a variety of things including yeast overgrowth, heavy metal toxicity and vitamin deficiencies. A treatment plan is then custom-tailored for the child based on the test results.
Other common biomedical therapy options include the use of Methyl B12 injections, homeopathy, enzymes, antifungal use and modified or restricted diets. There are several different dietary interventions that may be used as part of a biomedical approach to treating autism including the Gluten and Casein Free (GFCF) diet, the Feingold diet and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD.)
Generation Rescue’s Stance on Vaccines
As more media attention has been paid to the possible link between vaccines (especially those that contain mercury) and an increase in autism spectrum disorders, more parents are taking the time to educate themselves on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. According to Generation Rescue, part of their mission is to ask the government to "Green our vaccines, and administer them with greater care."
Greening up the vaccines would require vaccine manufacturers to remove many of the harmful chemicals, including preservatives like mercury and aluminum, from the vaccines themselves. Administering vaccines with greater care may include using a delayed vaccination schedule. Generation Rescue recommends that parents wait until a child is 18 to 24 months before starting the child’s vaccines.
The time frame is likely chosen as autism, especially regressive autism, usually becomes apparent around the time the child reaches the 18-month mark. If a child has not received any vaccinations up until this time and autism is suspected, then a family can be relatively sure that the child is truly exhibiting symptoms of an autism spectrum disorder and not autistic like symptoms that are seen with heavy metal toxicity.
Vaccine/Autism Controversy
The question as to whether autism is reversible is, in itself, an extremely controversial question. Those that claim that one can recover from autism do so based on their personal experiences – they have seen a child with autism lose all of his autistic symptoms and thus, it is reversible.
On the other hand, those that claim that autism is not reversible state that the child may have just been exhibiting autistic like symptoms but actually had another condition. Heavy metal toxicity, which can be seen in vaccine-injured children, can mimic autism. So the question becomes – was the child autistic or was the child vaccine injured and thus displaying autistic characteristics which went away after the heavy metal toxicity was resolved?
Unfortunately, these questions are not easy to answer. However, Generation Rescue is there to provide support and hope for parents of children who have autism or have been vaccine injured. The staff at Generation Rescue can be contacted toll-free at 1-877-98AUTISM.
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