reed writes

Canada Day 2008

Kim Souch and her daughter Sara began the first leg of a cross-Canada tour on July 1st. Their goal is to raise awareness of Autism in our country. The tour is called "Kaleidoscope ".Ride

They will host concerts across the country and I know they’ll be an inspiration to all who have the privilege of seeing and hearing them.

They will be keeping a blog diary at their dblog, which can be viewed here

Kim and Sara also have a website where anyone who wishes to, can donate to support the tour. The website can be found here.

Here’s their schedule so far. I urge anyone who can, to please to go see them for the musical experience of a lifetime.

Kim and Sara are supported by Autism Canada Foundation.

Schedule For Tour

June 30, 2008 Kaleidoscope Ride Kicks Off Canada Day Concert Schedule Parry Sound, ON – July 1 Parry Sound Canada Day Main Stage Downtown 11:30 Contact Courtney Norrie – Community Living  Parry Sound (705) 746-9330 Sault Ste. Marie, ON – July 3 Contact Lornena Burgan – Autism Ontario-Sault Ste. Marie Chapter (705) 759-5965 Thunder Bay, ON – July 4 Contact Loni Rudnicki – Autism Ontario-Thunder Bay Chapter (807) 622-9713 Winnipeg, MB – July 5 & 6 Contact Sandra McKay-Autism Society Manitoba/Janet Forbes-Community Living Winnipeg Regina, SK – July 9 Contact Faith Savarese – Regina & District Branch of the SACL (306) 790-5680 Calgary, AB – July 11/12 Contact Lyndon Parkin – Autism Calgary Association – (403) 250-5033  New Westminister, BC – July 16 Contact Ross Chilton – Community Living, Burnaby (604) 451-8699 Castlegar, BC – July 18 Contact Karina Allis – Kootney Society for Community Living – (250) 365-2624 Sudbury, ON Cathy Oja – Community Living Sudbury – (705) 692-3072

Laurie Mawlam Executive Director Autism Canada Foundation

SAN DIEGO — In a highly unusual outbreak of measles
here last month, 12 children fell ill; nine of them had not been inoculated
against the virus because their parents objected, and the other three were too
young to receive vaccines. read more

GUANTANAMO BAY – The trial of a Canadian being held by the United States has been repeatedly delayed. But new evidence casts doubt on whether Omar Khadr should have been charged
in the first place. According to Khadr’s military lawyer, U.S. Navy
Lt.-Comdr. William Kuebler, the U.S. government "manufactured evidence
to make it look like Omar was guilty." The Vancouver Sun has more.

AFGHANISTAN – A NATO soldier was killed during U.S. Vice President Cheney’s visit to that country. The soldier has not yet been identified.

TORONTO – In a column this week, James Travers of The Toronto Star says Canada must have a stronger commitment from NATO; he  cites Europe’s unwillingness to provide more soldiers as a possible escape hatch. Today he got a response from a reader.

This morning there arrived a timely call for an end to secrecy at The Federal Court of Claims. In something as important as this issue, all documents…however sensitive they might be…must be available for scrutiny.

"It is imperative that the court for vaccine compensation unseal documents involved in this unusual case so that experts, families and their doctors can better understand exactly how Hannah Poling, now 9 years old, came to be harmed after receiving a battery of shots when she was a toddler".

You can read the rest of The New York Times editorial here.

Our Children Are Just Too Important To Leave ANY Research Stone Unturned.

The controversy over a link between childhood vaccination and autism was intensified this week- by a finding of the "vaccine court" at the United States Federal Court of Claims.

We need to remember that:

• Vaccine Court is not a regular court of law
• It is not presided over by regular judges
• Findings in a specific case do not necessarily set a precedent
• The court is non-adversarial

Many of us were startled by the finding, especially those who are seeking actively, to understand what we need to do to discover the underlying causes of Autism.

The fear is that the "vaccine court" finding will cause thousands of people to believe that the culprit has finally been identified. Such a belief could also cause those people to shun the vaccination process. Even lawyers for the petitioning family in the recent case conceded that mass vaccination programmes have saved tens of thousands of lives and prevented the outbreak of disastrous epidemics. Nevertheless, more research into the nature of vaccines and their impact on children must be done.

It’s vitally important to keep in mind that while vaccination may indeed be a factor, insofar as we now know, it is not the primary, or underlying cause of the condition.  We do know  that a number of children have recovered from Autism after a combination of early diagnosis, early and intensive treatment/therapy and dietary discipline. (For more on treatments, see www.autismcanada.org ).

The fact is that ongoing research shows that Autism is a complex condition arising out of a host of possible circumstances, including many many variables.

Society must not become fixated on this one case or distracted by it or lured into thinking that it’s the answer to a problem that has no easy answer.

Autism is a massive and growing problem for us as a society, as can be seen in a comprehensive report published by the Senate of Canada. It’s called "Pay Now or Pay Later".

In order to discover the true causes, governments and private industry must invest far more heavily in research.

Reaction of The Centres For Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

Reuters News Agency has reported on the response of the CDC and the story can be read here.

A more comprehensive news report by journalist Gardiner Harris can be found here in The New York Times.