For centuries, autism, a totally biological disease of the mind, has baffled scientists. These autistic children were loved from a cold distance - they would not be touched, hated change, threw violent rages, easily became rampant, and could not communicate often beyond 70 words. Autistic children are usually, by about 70%, mentally retarded, while others develop a unique ability where everything else seems like a blockade, and others still are capable but unable or terrified to communicate. They go through life in a dream-like way. Even the most intensive social, intellectual and diet therapies make them unable to come out, to communicate with the outside world. Until now. A new drug therapy has become available to a small percentage of the autistic population (at this point in time.) It comes from the duodenum of pigs and it is an enzyme that is used in the digestion of food. Currently this medicine is only available to those suffering from pancreatic cancer - it offers a complete cure - a very malicious form of the disease. It works around 50% of the time - an astonishing number to this hopeless population. Only 30 autistics have experimented with the enzyme. This enzyme should be cultivated and used widely in experimental populations. All forms of mental illness are genetic, that is certain. But this is the first possible cure for such a severe form of illness that has arisen in years. It would be a giant leap - like landing on the moon - for the study of brain and behavior. Understanding the changes in the brain , and studying the digestive process could lead to enormous understandings of the workings of the mind, from the experience of trauma to the experience of mania. It is the first hope possible from the dark cloud of madness.
Elizabeth Lanoux