Research Chelation Therapy

Another inspiring story of success for a family implementing Biomedical Treatments for Autism for their son:

“I am a stay-at-home mother to three boys (Daniel, Charlie and Joe) and my husband is a Federal Prosecutor in Chicago. Our eldest son had life-threatening asthma at age 2 and our middle son has autism.

I run a state-wide support group called “Illinois Biomedical Kids” where parents draw support and guidance from one another as they successfully treat their children with autism.

In August of 2005, there were 20 of us. Now, two years later, we are almost 200 parents strong.

My husband and I are very thankful we decided to look into the science ourselves and not simply take the “experts” word for it. Through the medical treatments aimed at detoxifying their bodies of heavy metals and regulating their immune systems, my boys are doing extremely well today.

My eldest no longer has asthma and my son with autism is mainstreamed in a 2nd grade classroom. Fortunately, he received intensive therapy through Early Intervention from age 10 months and once we began treating his underlying medical problems, he has flourished in home Applied Behvior Analysis (ABA) programs. He is a well-liked member of his class with many friends. My youngest, under-vaccinated boy, has neither autism nor asthma.

I know the word “recovery” strikes a resonant chord in many individuals within the autism community. We aren’t trying to change who our children are-we are simply not ignoring the very real medical problems they have.

For instance, all the mainstream doctors I approached (including the very talented allergy/immunology team at Children’s Memorial Hospital) assured me that my son didn’t have any problems with milk and could not explain why he threw up almost everything he ate and had severe gastric reflux as a 6-week-old infant. However, when I finally bit the bullet and took milk products out of his diet, he stopped throwing up.

I remember when he was 3 years old, he used to have to sleep next to a bed pan every night. By simply replacing milk and wheat products with healthier, easier to digest alternatives, he not only became healthier but his language and cognitive skills improved dramatically.

I know this because his diet was the only thing we changed within a six-month period of time and we had his language tested right when we started the diet and then six months into the diet. His expressive language scores jumped 10 months with absolutely no speech therapy and a very difficult family move during this period of time.

The same improvement was seen by all who worked with him when we began chelation (using chemicals to remove excess or toxic metals) as well as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Transition tantrums ceased and his congitive skills soared.

Is Charlie cured now? I don’t consider him to be, but I really believe it depends on who you ask. Many people would never guess he was ever as severe as he was and he has playdates with all neurotypical peers who don’t see him as anything but another playmate.

Once we paid attention to his medical issues, educational and therapuetic issues fell into place and the difficult social skills and language taught through many hours of therapy were finally ’sticking.” It no longer feels as if we are pushing a boulder up a steep hill.

I also know a lot of parents with “recovered” children who choose not to talk about it. Perhaps many of us resist using the word “recovered” because it implies that the journey is over.

For those of us who have entered the realm of biomedical treatments for our children, it has become impossible to go back and pretend that we don’t know better when we make parenting choices based on convenience rather than health. To pay close attention to the diets of our affected children and ignore the processed food we feed our “neurotypical” children. To ignore our own health.

I’m truly thankful that my son is at the point when I can take a little bit of time for myself now and then, yet this is unfortunately not the case for so many parents whose job is to ensure the very safety of their child, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My son may not have lost his autism diagnosis yet.

However, when I consider the fact that just a few years ago, he could not hold down the food he ate, he stimmed alone for hours on end, he could not carry on a simple conversation, and he tantrumed to the point of kicking my then-pregnant belly repeatedly when transitioning from one activity to the next, I marvel at the endless possibilities within his little 8-year-old body and can’t help but hope for his future. For all of our children’s futures.

source: chicagotribune.com

There are always stories about the dangers of chelation therapy and the instances in which a tragic circumstance has occurred but I came across an uplifting story about a family who has found chelation therapy beneficial for their son Charlie who struggles with autisim. His marked improvements are obvious to both the family and school.

See story:

“His parents and his school are amazed at the progress an autistic little boy named Charlie Blakey has been making.

The transformation began right after Charlie started a treatment most experts say is useless — and possibly dangerous.

The treatment, called chelation, removes mercury and other toxic metals from the body. The theory is that the mercury kids received from vaccines caused their autism.

Since undergoing chelation, Charlie has had fewer temper tantrums and is spending less time walking around in circles. He is talking more and is easier to understand. And, there’s been a big jump in his language test scores.

“The brain fog lifted,” said his mother, Christina Blakey, of Oak Park. “He just started picking things up. They couldn’t teach him fast enough.”

No one knows how many autistic kids are undergoing chelation, but by most estimates, the number is in the thousands or even tens of thousands.

Dr. Anju Usman, who prescribed Charlie’s chelation, has 1,000 autistic kids in her practice, and a two-year waiting list of 500 patients. The Naperville family practice physician is among a handful of doctors in the country who prescribe chelation. Usman recommends chelation when other treatments don’t work. “Parents see kids get better and they tell one another,” Usman said. “It’s the results that bring them here.”

The chelation movement is a grass-roots revolt against mainstream medicine, which has been unable to find out what causes autism or how to cure it.”

source: Chicago Sun-Times, by Jim Ritter

New article from the Sacramento Bee in California announces a new Autism study to be conducted by the University of California at Davis to focus on the environment and the effects it may have on children with Autism. Study will track babies from before birth by tracking the environmental aspects surrounding the mother and then follow up once the baby is born until about age 3.

This is a step in the right direction to finally get answers to the increased numbers of Autistic Children in the U.S. today. Right now the best autism therapies are based on suspected environmental causes and include: casein-free diets, supplements, and oral chelation. Hopefully at the end of this study scientists will find a cause and eventually a cure to this now common condition in our children. See full article below:

“Researchers have long suspected that autism’s causes are rooted in one’s genes, combined with some kind of a hit from the environment. But pinpointing the interplay of these factors has been daunting, in part because the probing tends to come after a child is diagnosed.

A new study at the University of California at Davis will examine potential clues pointing to the neurodevelopmental disorder before it occurs - prior to birth and during a baby’s earliest years.

“We are quite concerned about the role that environment might play in autism,” said Nigel Fields, a scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one of two federal agencies to fund the $7.5 million research. “We would like to understand the complex interaction of genes and environmental factors as early in the developmental process as possible.”

Autistic children often have trouble talking, exhibit repetitive behaviors and are unable to connect with other people.

Researchers in the new study will look at the mother before, during and after pregnancy, and at the baby throughout its first three years.

The goal is to learn how to identify children most susceptible to environmental exposures that may lead to autism.

The project, known as MARBLES for Markers of Autism Risk in Babies - Learning Early Signs, is the first of its kind to look in real time at environmental exposures. They could include a mother’s infections during pregnancy, an infant’s childhood vaccinations, and other potential contaminants such as mercury, flame retardants and common, chlorinated chemicals such as those found in pesticides.

MARBLES is an extension of another project under way examining the influence of genes and environmental factors in more than 800 families in which a child is already diagnosed with the disorder.

That study, called CHARGE, Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment, already has found that autistic children’s immune systems respond differently to certain substances than do those of children who do not have autism, leading experts to suspect that autism is an immune function disorder as well as a neurological disorder.

“But if you really want to get at causes, it’s crucial to go back in time,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a UC Davis environmental epidemiologist and one of the project’s principal investigators.

MARBLES will enroll more than 200 pregnant women who already have had at least one child diagnosed with autism, since mothers of autistic children are at least 10 times more likely to have another child with the disorder.

Researchers will comb their homes for potential environmental poisons - gathering the contents of vacuum cleaners, carpet dust and samples of air. They will conduct extensive interviews with the mothers about their exposures to everything from nail polish products to mercury-tainted fish. They will collect blood, and immediately after the baby’s birth, placental tissue, umbilical cord blood, as well as mother’s breast milk and urine from both mom and baby.”

By Dorsey Griffith
Sacramento Bee
published 8/10/2007

US Autism & Asperger Association, Inc. (USAAA) holds its annual International Autism and Asperger Conference in Denver, Colorado, August 8-11, 2007. Today, USAAA announced that a major medical announcement will be presented at the conference regarding a study on autistic children that showed significant clinical improvements in many core areas including language, socialization, cognitive awareness, and decreased irritability. This intervention has been used with clinical success in several other chronic neurological conditions including cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, closed head injury, and stroke.

This is an incredible opportunity for parents, caregivers, and professionals to attend one of the most comprehensive autism conferences in the world,” explained L.P. Kaplan, PhD, USAAA Founder and Executive Director. “Attendees will receive information that will empower them to help their children, family, patients, friends, and others touched by autism. They will meet with the physicians who are treating more autism patients than anyone else in the world, and will learn from educators who are providing interventions that have successfully improved our children, and in many cases they have recovered.”

Some of the world’s most renowned leading autism experts will present new interventions and new research in both education and medicine. The conference is co-hosted by Autism Society of Boulder County (ASBC) and will be held at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center - Denver.

Theresa Wrangham, ASBC’s Founder added, “We are thrilled to present such significant findings to the world. It is very exciting to host USAAA in Colorado and bring cutting edge information from leaders in biomedical and behavioral treatments of autism to our community.”

Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Arthur Krigsman, Dr. Mark Geier, David Geier and Shannon Kenitz will be featured speakers.

USAAA is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization. The USAAA mission is to enhance the quality of life of individuals and their families/caregivers touched by autism spectrum disorders by providing educational and family support through conferences/seminars and published and electronic mediums.

ASBC is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization whose mission is to raise autism awareness in by supporting all Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) individuals and their families and professionals. The organization provides information on all topics related to autism, educational support, autism research and legislation. ASBC is an all-volunteer organization and an extension of Autism Society of America.

What do California condors and autistic children have in common? Quite possibly it’s a need for chemical detoxification. As discussed frequently by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vigorous environmental advocate, there’s little doubt that mercury in the form of thimerosal (ethyl mercury) is “poisoning the brains of children throughout the world.” Kennedy rails against the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for being “criminally negligent” on this issue. Mercury is a neurotoxin, and allowing it to seep into the forming synapses of infant and toddler brains is, or should be, an act of criminal proportions.

This is a fact somewhat separate from the debate about what really “causes autism.” Given the known biotoxic effects of heavy metals like lead and mercury, how can anyone argue, as vaccine manufactures continue to do, that that mercury, at any level, is harmless to developing tissues of children. Yet that autism debate rages on, the most disingenuous of the combatants parking themselves in the absurd, overly simplistic extremes of genetics versus environment. The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Certain children, through their genetic makeups, are likely more sensitive to neurotoxins such as mercury.

In an environment where drugs like Prozac seep into drinking water, and the bodies of all of us bubble with a diversity of toxins, like PCBs and dioxins, who is to say what combination of toxins, thimerosal included, may provoke childhood brain disorders like hyperactivity or autism? From a toxicological point of view, mercury, possibly in combination with other toxins, might act in a direct fashion on the brains of these kids. Or it’s also possible, given what is known about mercury, that it could, drive the immune system into a haywire interaction with its own nervous system and contributing to the neurological damage.

On June 25, the same day that Kennedy made his assertions about the mercury-autism connection on radio, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D, NY) held subcommittee hearings into the health effects of environmental toxicity suffered by 9-11 responders and residents. What many fail to appreciate is that the plethora of illnesses currently afflicting tens of thousands of 9-11 responders offers us a mirror of the health effects related to the accumulating toxicity to which we are all exposed. They come at us, and into us, from our food, air, water and from products and materials we use at home and at work over our lifetimes. Just as the genetic makeups of some children can predispose them to brain/behavioral disorders, when exposed to thimerosal, a number of the 9-11 responders, against a background of a career of the exposures they got while fighting fires, developed lung pathologies– the notorious WTC cough and chronic lung diseases –and also a host of immunological and neurological symptoms. Their chronic fatigue, loss of memory, inability to concentrate and disruption of sleep may, in a very real sense, parallel the damaged neurology in mercury-exposed children.

Proponents of the thimerosal causation of autism, like Kennedy, argue that a detoxification method called chelation therapy is of great benefit to these children. Detoxification, they claim, is a necessary strategy in a population already polluted by its environment. Kennedy chides the CDC, and the traditional U.S. medical establishment, for refusing to even study chelation. And in like fashion, when nearly 1,000 of the between 40,000 and 70,000 estimated 9-11 responders who say they have suffered health problems due to their World Trade Center toxic exposures have demonstrated benefit from a sauna detoxification procedure, New York City and its traditional medical team at Mt. Sinai Hospital and other WTC treatment centers vigorously ignore the fact that this rehabilitation therapy is actually working. While the ill responders continue to deteriorate and develop rare cancers, like multiple myeloma, almost all of those who received detoxification therapy have returned to relatively normal lives, their mental fogginess allayed, their sleep quality restored, their energy for living reinvigorated.

In general, this correlation bears testament to the growing necessity for toxin cleansing on a planet groaning under the weight of body-stored toxins. As for the condor connection mentioned at the beginning of this article, interestingly, there was no hesitation when isotopic fingerprinting showed that the endangered California condor was suffering from lead poisoning after ingestion of lead-bullet-poisoned carcasses left behind by hunters. Using chelation to remove the lead from the condors’ blood and tissues, wildlife biologists rescued dozens of birds, greatly assisting a captive breeding program that is returning the species to viability.

Future generations will tell us whether we too readily neglected and rejected chelation and other forms of detoxification in favor of traditional medicine, which tends to function within the trade space of putting more chemicals (drugs) into bodies already overflowing with foreign substances. They will tell us whether we were too resistant to a needed a paradigm shift, which would recognize the need to relieve a body of its toxic burden as a more viable path to regaining health rather than trying to relieve symptoms with drug therapy alone.

source: http://www.opednews.com
authored by: Vin LoPresti

by: Lourdes Salvador
July 7, 2007

Chelation often gets a bad rap and this author opines that the bad rap often comes from practitioners who use risky chelation methods, such as intravenous dosing. Chelation not only removes toxicant metals, but also minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Too large a dose all at once could strip the body of these minerals required for heart function and cause death. Sadly, these cases have received bad publicity and tainted the benefits and relative safety of oral chelation.

However, chelation is not all bad and may even be beneficial. Flora et al (2007) published a study entitled “Arsenic and lead induced free radical generation and their reversibility following chelation” in the Cellular and Molecular Biology journal. The researchers found that chelation after exposure to lead or arsenic actually reversed the free radical damage that the heavy metals caused.

The researchers focused on lead and arsenic, as they believe the two are the most important current global environmental toxicants because the symptoms of toxicity are believed to be produced by an imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant homeostasis, as well as a high affinity for thiol groups on functional proteins.

Lead poisoning can result in fatigue, vomiting, gastrointestinal irritation, diarrhea, loss of appetite, colic, weakness and dehydration. Severe cases lead to convulsions, external limb paralysis, coma, and death. Arsenic poisoning can result in stomach pains, cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting, dryness and tightness in the throat, thirst, hoarseness, speach difficulty, convulsions, delirium, and death. Both interfere with central nervous system function, as well as liver and kidney function. The approved treatment for both is administration of chelating agents to bind with the metals and carry them out of the body.

The researchers cite calcium disodium ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid (CaNa2EDTA), D-penicillamine and British anti-lewisite (BAL) as the most commonly used chelating agents. They believe that meso 2,3 dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), commonly used by naturopaths for mercury chelation, is unable to remove the metal from intracellular sites. Therefore, they recommend combination therapy, including the use of “structurally different chelators or a combination of an adjuvant/ antioxidant/ herbal extracts and a chelator” for better results.

Reference: Flora SJ, Flora G, Saxena G, Mishra M. Arsenic and lead induced free radical generation and their reversibility following chelation. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2007 Apr 15;53(1):26-47.

source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=31058

It is clear that the evidence is mounting that childhood vaccinations play a part in childhood neurological disorders including:  Autism, ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome.  The article below highlights “Generation Rescues” survey results that there is a much higher percentage of disorders among those children who received vaccines.  See article below:

Vaccinated Children Two And A Half Times More Likely To Have Neurological Disorders Like ADHD And Autism, New Survey In California And Oregon Finds

As the first trial in Vaccine Court explores the relationship between vaccines and autism, a new survey released today indicates a strong correlation between rates of neurological disorders, such as ADHD and autism, and childhood vaccinations.

The survey, commissioned by Generation Rescue, compared vaccinated and unvaccinated children in nine counties in Oregon and California. Among more than 9,000 boys age 4-17, the survey found vaccinated boys were two and a half times (155%) more likely to have neurological disorders compared to their unvaccinated peers. Vaccinated boys were 224% more likely to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and 61% more likely to have autism.

For older vaccinated boys in the 11-17 age bracket, the results were even more pronounced. Vaccinated boys were 158% more likely to have a neurological disorder, 317% more likely to have ADHD, and 112% more likely to have autism.

Generation Rescue commissioned the phone survey. Data was gathered by SurveyUSA, a national market research firm, which surveyed parents by phone on more than 17,000 children, ages 4-17, in five counties in California (San Diego, Sonoma, Orange, Sacramento, and Marin) and four counties in Oregon (Multnomah, Marion, Jackson, and Lane).

The survey asked parents whether their child had been vaccinated, and whether that child had one or more of the following diagnoses: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Development Disorder — Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), or Autism. The phone survey was chosen to mirror the methodology the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses to establish national prevalence for neurological disorders in their national phone survey.

Timed to the release of the survey results, Generation Rescue also ran full-page advertisements in Washington’s Roll Call, The Oregonian, and The Orange County Register today. The ad compares the 36 pediatric vaccines the CDC recommends today to the 10 recommended in 1983, and asks, “Are We Over- Vaccinating Our Kids?”

“No one has ever compared prevalence rates of these neurological disorders between vaccinated and unvaccinated children,” said J.B. Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue, whose son was diagnosed with autism. “The phone survey isn’t perfect, but these numbers point to the need for a comprehensive national study to gather this critical information.”

In Washington, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has been advocating for such a survey. Co-sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), the “Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Population Act of 2006,” or H.R. 2832, was introduced on June 22, and would require the National Institutes of Health to complete this research.

“Generation Rescue’s study is impressive and forcefully raises some serious questions about the relationship between vaccines and autism. What is ultimately needed to resolve this issue one way or the other is a comprehensive national study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children,” said Congresswoman Maloney. “The parents behind Generation Rescue only want information. These parents deserve more than road blocks, they deserve answers. We can and should move forward in search of those answers. That’s why I’ve introduced a common sense bill that would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a comprehensive, comparative study on the possible link between autism and thimerosal.”

From 1983 to 2007, autism rates have climbed from 1 in 10,000 children to 1 in 150 children, a growth rate of 6,000% (boys are significantly more affected by neurological disorders, accounting for approximately 80% of all cases). ADHD currently affects 1 in 13 children. In the same period, the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule more than tripled. The simmering debate over the cause of childhood neurological disorders shows no sign of cooling, but no study had ever been done to look at unvaccinated children.

Lisa Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue, adds, “Everyone working with autism wants to identify the cause so we can focus on treatment and prevention. A national study like HR 5940 could help end this debate and focus all of our resources on helping our kids. Its time has come, and we hope Congress will choose to put our children first.”

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=75333

It is common pratice for parents of autistic children to incorporate a special gluten and casein free diet. This is often difficult as children friendly foods such as pasta, cheese, and milk are prohibited. There are however many ways to create menu items that are both nutritious and appealing to children. You can review special gluten and casein free products and see how easy it can be.

Here are what doctors in the “Defeat Autism Now” biomedical movement recommend:

“Doctors in the “Defeat Autism Now!” biomedical movement support special diets for children with autism, including the removal of gluten and casein. The theory behind dietary interventions is that a high percentage of children with autism suffer from chronic gastro-intestinal problems including troubling reactions to foods such as wheat, soy or milk. By eliminating gluten (found in wheat, starches and other grains) and the milk protein casein (found in cheese, butter, milk, yogurt and ice cream), the children feel better and are able to function more normally, advocates of this approach say. Before beginning the diet, doctors following the DAN! program perform blood, urine and stool tests to determine whether the child has any sensitivity to gluten and casein. Advocates recommend following the diet for at least six months to a year, but other autism experts note that there is little evidence supporting the effectiveness of these diets.” reprinted from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6974956/

ASU Prof. James Adams, Ph.D. is currently conducting research at on the effectiveness of Chelation Therapy and Autism in children. His research group is dedicated to finding the causes of autism, how to prevent autism, and how to best help people with autism. Below are guidlines from his Summary of Biomedical Treatments for Autism to help guide parents through this information and treatment options. For an uncondensed version of this article visit www.awakennutrition.com/asu.html

A condensed version of the DAN! guidelines by James Adams, Ph.D

Follow in this order:

1. Improve quality of diet. Eliminate junk food. Increase intake of vegetables, whole fruit, and protein, while limiting sugar/starch intake.

2. Minimum 3-month trial of total avoidance of casein and gluten.

3. Add digestive enzymes, vitamins, minerals.

4. Test thyroid function and iodine level – consider thyroid hormones and/or iodine.

5. Test for food allergy, using blood.

6. Test gut function: Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis and urinary organic acids, using both tests to check for intestinal yeast/bacteria. If necessary, treat with antifungals, probiotics, and possibly antibiotics. Try low sugar/starch diet, and consider Specific Carbohydrate Diet to starve yeast/bacteria.

7. Test for amino acids, and add if necessary.

8. Test plasma sulfate and glutathione; supplement if low.

9. Assess heavy metal toxicity by chelation challenge, and treat if high.

10. Try additional nutrients (Essential fatty acids, DMG/TMG, methyl-B12)

11. Try mega-B6 with Magnesium (8 mg of B6 per pound bodyweight, and 4 mg/pound bodyweight of Magnesium), especially if kryptopyrole test high.

12. Test for viral infections, and treat if necessary.

Behavioral therapy is also strongly recommended, and should be done simultaneously. Applied Behavior Analysis, Relationship Development Intervention, and other methods are available.

Interesting article on the court hearings taking place linking Autism to mercury in childhood vaccines… check back for further updates on this important issue:

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The parents of 12-year-old Michelle Cedillo asked a federal court Monday to find that their child’s autism was caused by common childhood vaccines, a precedent-setting case that could pave the way for thousands of autistic children to receive compensation from a government fund set up to help people injured by the shots.Wearing noise-canceling headphones, Michelle, of Yuma, Ariz., was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair at the start of the proceedings before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, She stayed only a short time.

Her parents, Theresa and Michael Cedillo, allege a preservative called thimerosal that had been used in vaccines weakened their daughter’s immune system and prevented her body from clearing the measles virus after she was immunized for the disease at age 15 months.

Today, Michelle suffers from a litany of health problems, including severe autism, inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma and epilepsy.

“We hope to find out what happened and hopefully get the help she needs,” said Theresa Cedillo, who takes care of her daughter full time at home.

Special Master George Hastings Jr. thanked the family for allowing theirs to be the first of nine test cases that will help guide the resolution of some of the nearly 5,000 similar claims lodged with the government.

“Clearly the story of Michelle’s life is a tragic one,” Hastings said in pledging to listen carefully to the evidence presented during the three-week hearing.

The burden of proof is easier than in a traditional court. Plaintiffs only have to prove that a link between autism and the shots is more likely than not, based on a preponderance of evidence.

Large scientific studies have found no association between autism and vaccines containing thimerosal.

But many partents say their children’s symptoms did not show up until after their children received the vaccines, required by many states for admission to school.

“These are families who followed the rules. These are families who brought children in for vaccines. These are families who immunized their children,” said the Cedillos’ attorney, Thomas Powers.

Powers said that the science regarding a possible vaccine-autism link is in dispute.

Government attorney Vincent Matanoski dismissed much of what the plaintiffs are expected to present as conjecture or speculation.

“You’ll find their hypotheses untested or, when tested, have been found false,” Matanoski said.

Since 1999, more than 4,800 families have filed claims with the government alleging their children developed autism as a result of routine vaccinations. Most contend that a preservative called thimerosal is to blame for the impaired social interaction typical of the disorder.

The court is being asked to decide whether there is a link between autism and childhood vaccines. If it finds one exists, the families could be eligible for compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, a program established by Congress to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines by safeguarding manufacturers from lawsuits. Under the program, people injured by vaccines receive compensation through a special trust fund.

Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction. Those affected often have trouble communicating, and they exhibit unusual or severely limited activities and interests. Classic symptoms of mercury poisoning include anxiety, fatigue and abnormal irritation, as well as cognitive and motor dysfunction.

Monday’s case addresses the theory that the cause of autism is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination with other vaccines containing thimerosal. The preservative, about 50 percent mercury by weight, is no longer found in routine childhood vaccines but is used in some flu shots.

In July 1999, the U.S. government asked vaccine manufacturers to eliminate or reduce, as expeditiously as possible, the mercury content of their vaccines to avoid any possibility of infants who receive vaccines being exposed to more mercury than is recommended by federal guidelines.