American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology advertisement

Dr. Thomas J. Garite
Editor-in-Chief
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
 
Dear Dr. Garite:
 
I appreciate you taking the time to editorialize in print this month about the advertisement the Vitamin D Council placed in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG) in March 2009, and to explain why you refused to run our ad in April and May. As you stated, this was the first time AJOG censored an ad in its 100 year history.
 
Garite TJ, Kim M. The "Vitamin D Council" advertisement. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2009 Jul;201(1):2.

I also understand the "all autism is caused by vaccinations" community can be very persuasive. George Bernard Shaw once said, "Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything." Perhaps Scientific American can change the minds of the "all autism is caused by vaccinations" crowd, although I doubt it, as Scientific American just ran a lengthy story on the autism and Vitamin D connection and the "all autism is caused by vaccinations" crowd replied vociferously that the Scientific American article was nonsense. 
 
Glaser G. What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism? Sci Amer April 24, 2009.
 
It was the Council's intention to inform obstetricians about the new American Academy of Pediatric (AAP) recommendations, which advise obstetricans to obtain a 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D levels on pregnant women and thus enable obstetricans to timely diagnose and adequately treat maternal Vitamin D deficiency. We also wanted to warn obstetricans that there is a growing literature that clearly shows that the 10 micrograms (400 IU) of Vitamin D in prenatal vitamins are virtually irrelevant to preventing gestational Vitamin D deficiency, which another growing literature shows is a true pandemic. ( I am copying Dr. Lisa Bodnar, at the University of Pittsburgh, who is one of the world's authorities on gestational Vitamin D deficiency).  

Bodnar LM et al. High prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in black and white pregnant women residing in the northern United States and their neonates. J Nutr. 2007 Feb;137(2):447-52.

I hope we do not have to prove developing human brains need Vitamin D as much as developing rat brains do before obstetricans decide to diagnose and treat maternal Vitamin D deficiency? Dr. Cathy Levenson, at Florida State University, recently published a review on the devastating effects such gestational Vitamin D deficiency has on developing rat brains. ( I also copy her.)  

Levenson CW, Figueirôa SM. Gestational vitamin D deficiency: long-term effects on the brain. Nutr Rev. 2008 Dec;66(12):726-9.
 
I fear for the future liability of obstetricans. They are already being driven out of practice by malpractice suits, a fact you appreciate better than I. Now, new Vitamin D recommendations by the AAP, combined with an article in Scientific American that list some, but not all, of the reasons gestational Vitamin D deficiency is the environmental trigger for the autism phenotype, certainly should concern obstetricans and their attorneys. I am no friend of lawyers, but it seems the statute of limitations in all jurisdictions leaves obstetricans exposed well into the future. That exposure could be entirely eliminated if obstetricans would just follow the AAP's advice and diagnose and treat Vitamin D deficiency in their pregnant patients.
 
I assume the "all autism is caused by vaccinations" crowd will not allow you to print my reply to your editorial?
 
John Cannell, MD
Department of Psychiatry
Atascadero State Hospital
President, Vitamin D Council
805 468-2061