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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Autism in Australia


Previous posts have described the international battle over vaccinesIn Melbourne, The Herald Sun reports:
AUSTRALIA'S most distinguished scientists claim the anti-immunisation lobby is endangering children's lives as the number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children rises sixfold.

Amid increasing concern over the issue, and with statisitcs showing one in 12 Australian babies are not fully immunised, twelve top researchers will this week go into battle against those who warn of perceived health dangers from vaccinations.

Professor Ian Frazer, who invented the cervical cancer vaccine, says he fears immunisation levels for some diseases are falling below those required to prevent deadly outbreaks.

And eminent biologist Sir Gustav Nossal has accused the anti-vaccination lobby of preventing the eradication of measles through its false claim that the vaccine against the disease caused autism.
A 20-page booklet to be launched on Monday explains that many more children will die from diseases like measles, mumps, and diphtheria than will be harmed by the side effects of immunisation.
The same paper also reports that Australia is having funding problems:
 COLLEEN Osmond is the human face of the greatest revolution to hit NSW education in decades.
The school learning support officer (SLSO) was sacked from her job providing one-on-one support to students with autism as a result of the overhaul to disability funding at the state's public schools.
The Every Student, Every School policy removes individual funding for students with milder disabilities such as autism, reading and language difficulty and ADHD, giving principals one bucket of money based on factors such as school size, NAPLAN results and the prevalence of autism in the local community.