DISPOSABLE PEOPLE(?)

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,1943058,00.html

• toxic chemicals and damage to the brain

In Utero Exposure To Urban Air Pollutants Can Adversely Affect Child

Development

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=42278

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2006552,00.html

 -  Study shows increase in mental disorders among children

  James Randerson, science correspondent Tuesday February 6, 2007 The Guardian

 Mental disorders in children are on the rise, according to a study of nearly 700,000 young people.

Researchers have known for several years that diagnoses of autism are increasing, but the new research suggests that Tourette syndrome and hyperkinetic disorder are also being more commonly identified in children. The researchers say it is not clear if the apparent rise is real and caused

by environmental factors or whether it is due to increased awareness and diagnosis of child mental health problems by doctors. The team collected data from the Danish National Psychiatric Registry on the mental health of every child born between 1990 and 1999. They focused on diagnoses of childhood autism, autism spectrum disorder, Tourette syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and hyperkinetic disorder. All except OCD increased. Diagnosis of hyperkinetic disorder at the age of five nearly tripled between 1992 and 1999. Tourette syndrome more than doubled between the 1990 and 1995 cohort. The study also found increases in both childhood autism and autism spectrum disorder. One possibility is that something about modern living or the environment - perhaps diet or vaccines - is contributing to increases in all the mental health problems. But Robert Goodman at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London said that it would be wrong to jump to that conclusion. "They have no way of distinguishing between it having got more common and their clinicians having got better at recognising it.""The autism trend has been reported in a lot of other studies and it has been a big focus of interest," said Diana Schendel at the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, part of the team which produced the study. "What this shows is that in fact the apparent rise in autism might not be a solitary event. We do see a similar pattern of increase in these other conditions." The research, published in the Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, is the first study to look at diagnoses of hyperkinetic disorder and Tourette

syndrome in such detail.

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/114-2/focus.html

 -  New Thinking on Neurodevelopment

The notion that some substances in the environment can damage the nervous system has an ancient history. The neurotoxicity of lead was recognized more than 2,000 years ago by the Greek physician Dioscerides, who wrote, "Lead makes the mind give way." In the intervening millennia many other substances have been added to the list of known or suspected neurotoxicants. Despite this accumulation of knowledge, there is still much that isn't understood about how neurotoxicants affect the developing brain, especially the effects of low-dose exposures. Today researchers are taking a hard look at low-dose exposures in utero and during childhood to unravel some of the mysteries of

impaired neurodevelopment.

EXCERPT -  Despite the uncertainties, many scientists believe it would be wise to err on the side of caution when it comes to a research agenda. As Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School, puts it, "Even though we may have neither consensus nor certainty about an autism epidemic, there are enough studies coming in with higher numbers that we should take it seriously. Environmental hypotheses ought to be central to research now. The physiological systems that have been harmed by environmental factors may also point to treatment targets, and this might be a great way to help the children."

The Parade of Neurotoxicants  

 Among the most intensely studied neurotoxicants are metals (lead, mercury, and manganese), pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). A number of these compounds were identified as neurotoxicants when individuals were exposed to high doses during occupational accidents or childhood poisonings. Scientists are now exploring the potential consequences of low-dose exposures, especially to children and fetuses. Epidemiologic studies play a central role, and these are often complemented by experimental work on animals and cell cultures. These days, researchers are looking not only at associations between toxicants and disease, but also at the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1941806,00.html

- Science MPs accuse ministers of twisting science for political purposes

Evidence distorted to give figleaf of respectability

Inquiry highlights drug policy and crime statistics

James Randerson, science correspondent

Wednesday November 8, 2006The Guardian

The government often hides behind a figleaf of scientific respectability when spinning unpalatable or controversial policies to make them acceptable to voters, according to a report by MPs critical of the way science is used in policy. The parliamentary science and technology select committee said that scientific evidence was often misused or distorted to justify policy decisions which were really based on ideological or social grounds.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1160758.0.0.php

 -    Statisticians claim neutrality compromised by executive pressure

ROBBIE DINWOODIE, Chief Scottish Political Correspondent  February 01 2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/16/ndrugs16.xml

 -  Drug firms 'infiltrating' research By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 17/01/2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6425395.stm – Jail cruel to learning disabled, 7^th March 2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6364809.stm

 -  Many inmates 'have very low IQs'

Report says prisoners may be unable to access education schemes

  Almost 6,000 people with IQs below 70 are estimated to be in UK prisons at any one time - many of them with learning disabilities, a report says.  Research for the Prison Reform Trust says such low IQs will affect their ability to cope with prison life.

EXCERPT - The government says it is already reforming offender education.  Changes include a requirement for individual needs assessments. The report was based on the findings from a study carried out by the University of Liverpool, at the request of local NHS commissioners, in Liverpool men's Prison, Styal women's prison and Hindley, an institution for young offenders.  One prisoner with learning disabilities told the researchers: "Being in prison is frightening. People shout a lot. It's noisy. You don't know what's happening to you."

EXCERPT - The Prison Reform Trust said the report might shed further light on the "very high" rates of re-offending.  Its director, Juliet Lyon, said it raised important questions about how such

people got caught up in the criminal justice system in the first place and whether those responsible for special education, social care and family support could have done more.

http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/subsection.asp?id=828

•  15 Feb 2007 - high numbers of people with learning disabilities and difficulties held

behind bars  Prison Reform Trust press release

EXCERPT - Learning difficulties include a number of impairments, including autistic spectrum disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

ASD is not actually a learning disability – it is a developmental disability, and should have been recognised as such by the Prison Reform Trust. This misunderstanding is a measure of the general ignorance about ASD even amongst NGOs who have compiled reports including information on ASD.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=30TLKUSYM2YGPQFIQMFSM5OAVCBQ0JVC?xml=/news/2004/08/08/nasper08.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/08/ixhome.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=14379    - Asperger's man is released from Broadmoor By Daniel Foggo 07/08/2004 A man suffering from Asperger's syndrome who was wrongly sent to Broadmoor after being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia has been released after a campaign by The Telegraph. Piers Bolduc, 28, was put on powerful drugs which he did not need and held at the hospital for the criminally insane since he was 19, despite not suffering from mental illness or having any convictions. Asperger's is a mild form of autism which is fundamentally unresponsive to drugs, because it is a condition and not an illness.

This man was incarcerated in Broadmoor for 10 years, after being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Even after he was correctly diagnosed, the Telegraph had to campaign for his release from Broadmoor. Before Asperger's Syndrome was recognised, schizophrenia was the usual diagnosis for people with Asperger's. Only one health board in Scotland has begun to find out how many people may have fallen into this trap - and they have so far found over 450.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/787526.stm

Tuesday, 27 June, 2000, 22:05 GMT 23:05 UK Autism misdiagnosis 'ruined a life'

 -  about a young man with Asperger's Syndrome who was detained in mental institutions for many years. It also says that a recent study of patients at 3 high security hospitals revealed that 5.3% of their population had autism or related disorders, which is more than three times the rate of autism in the general population.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=393532007 - Scottish children's homes in crisis Tue 13 Mar 2007 CHILDREN'S care homes are in crisis as thousands of staff working with young people do not have the qualifications for the job, a Scotsman investigation has revealed.

Figures show that only 18 per cent of staff are fully qualified to work in residential care, more than a decade after inspectors called for urgent improvements.

http://www.journalonline.co.uk/article/1002944.aspx

 -  Mentally disordered offenders by Lisa Gillespie

Overview of the options available to the courts when dealing with offenders

who have or may have a mental disorder, following recent legislative reforms

Submission, 2 April 2006

© Fiona Sinclair, Wednesday 4^th April 2007