you believe your son's autism is linked to the vaccinati vaccination? >> i believe so, yes. >> the autism con strotroversy continues. robert de niro blames his son's autism on vaccines, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that says the actor is wrong. today a local autism advocate discusses the new research that may finally end the debate. the nfl draft comes to philly next month. it's a touchdown for the city. what's in it for the locals? the story behind a popular treat, irish potatoes. you might be surprised how the philly tradition got started. good morning. i'm erin coleman.

linking vaccines to autism. like most other established medical organizations, the american kad mee of pediatrics says no link etchixists. they call it dangerous to suggest others. others like robert de niro and john f. kennedy junior disagree. they voiced their concerns. >> thank you for being here. the organization world mercury project is devoted to raising awareness of the dangers of mercury. why did you want to become part of the group? >> my son -- i have been affected personally. my son has autism. i love my child more than anything. wouldn't change him. but it's still -- his life has been altered forever. we live with it every day. >> to be clear, you believe that your son's autism is linked to the vaccination? >> i believe so, yes.

>> we have an epidemic of childhood injuries, diseases in this country that i think the signs are very clear it's related to the mercury in vaccines. >> you net with the president, president trump about this issue. what did you want, what did you want to tell him, what did he tell you? >> he said he had a lot of friends who had been affected, whose children had gotten autism from vaccines and changed after getting the vaccines. he said he was not ready to dismiss it because as cdc says, there's nothing to this, he was skeptical of that. >> could there be another environmental factor at play? >> of course there could. there are a number. we're living in a toxic world right now. i don't think vaccines are causing all of the autism epidemic. part of it is diagnostic as well. >> yeah. it's -- something is there. we need to do something about it.

>> thank you both so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having us. >> the organization autism speaks disagrees with that. on its website it says, each family has a unique experience with an autism diagnosis and for some it corresponds with the timing of their child's vaccinations. at the same time, scientists have conducted extensive research over the last two decades to determine whether there is any link between childhood vaccinations and autism. the results of this research is clear. vaccines do not cause autism. the children's hospital of philadelphia cites a study it found children who were fully vaccinated in the first year of life were not more likely to develop autism than those whose parents had chosen to delay vac ne vaccines.

thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> your organization does not believe there's a link between autism and vaccines, correct? >> correct. all the literature you cited, including the cdc, they have not found any link or anything in the vaccines that would contribute to the link. >> in your opinion, when there is so much evidence against linking vaccines to autism, why does this controversy keep coming up? >> the autism field is very contentious. there's many warring camps and there's very strong feelings and very passionate feelings. when you do have celebrities going on television and staking out a certain position and some of the research may be funded by pharmaceuticals, it lends to maybe not believing the scientific studies. but we're for safe vaccines. if you still want to research it or evaluate it, no problem. but we see no evidence at all.

we do not recommend that our families. >> there is new research that is diagnosing autism at a very early age, much earlier than ever before. tell us a little bit about that. >> that came out with the university of north carolina, their int institute of developmental. they notice a change in the brain. the brain develops rapidly. at six months and at 24 months they saw changes. they were able to predict at an 80% rate that these infants would develop autism. so it was a very robust study. limited on clinical limitations. the thinking is that if you can predict autism at six months, there's possible early intervention you could attempt to see if they would be successful. a compelling piece of research. it was done with high risk

infants. so they had to replicate with further sample bases. but that was pretty significant. it all related to the size of the brain and how it was different than normal population. >> do you think that the fact that scientists can possibly diagnose autism before children are getting the bulk of their vaccine, do you think this this is going to finally put an end to all of this? >> hopefully and absolutely no question. a lot of research is going down that line. you would hope it would. >> you have a personal connection. your grandson has autism. >> yes. i have seven wonderful grandchildren. my sixth chigrandchild, i could tell at four months when i was looking at him, unbeknoe noekno anyone in the family, the way he would stare at me. i talked to one of my colleagues about it. he recommended, you can't tell your family, you can't tell your

daughter-in-law. you can't tell your son. you will upset them. i was certain that he was going to be autistic. then when he started standing and he had some of the characteristics of being autistic, i knew. that was way before he even got the vaccine. clinically, i did pick up at four months. when he would come to visit me, he always had an attraction to me because i did compression with him. held him tight. everybody thought he would gravitate. i would talk in his ear that we have a secret. i will help you as best i can. i got my daughter-in-law and my son to get early intervention with him. if you get 20 hours a week early intervention and you do aba, you can really -- you can't cure autism, but you can improve behaviors. >> talk about that. how can children benefit from the early diagnosis and the earlier intervention? >> early intervention is very important. you really have to prepare

families. the emotional impact of getting a diagnosis of autism has a tremendous impact on in-laws, grandparents, sons and daughters. it's a life changing event. many families get overwhelmed. one of the early diagnosis would be to help families prepare to make the right moves, the right course of action for them. in terms of long-term, they will probably will come up with different treatment methodologies to see if they will work at an early age to reverse autism. but i would say one of the big takeaways is getting families prepared for a lifetime of challenges. every day is an emotional challenge. things that were easy, toilet train, feeding, going to bed is very challenging for a family. >> brand-new research just released this week discovered 18

genes linked to autism that cause unique changes in the dna of people with the condition. researchers say it's further proof that there isn't just one type of autism. there's a spectrum here. do you agree with that? this is brand-new stuff. >> it came out this week. if you met one person who had autism, you only met one person who had autism because the spectrum is so wide and so big. i think that's great research that they were able to diagnose the genes in terms of its contribution to causing autism. i think a lot of the research is go going that way. there's a lot of money being spent, there's a lot of research. because you have an epidemic going on in the country. the numbers are staggering and they're growing. we see in our agency tremendous increase in referrals for services all the time. >> if you had the chance, what would you tell robert de niro or robert kennedy junior? >> well, they have -- their

reality is real to them. but we believe that vaccines do not cause autism. so we would not want to go down that road. i would promote other types of research. >> that early intervention, if you can get it? >> early intervention for your child makes the world of difference, without question. >> thank you for being here with us. next, the nfl draft will be in town next month. organizers say it has something for everyone, even if football is not your thing. it's all free. dear fellow citizen, i know what it's like to worry about student loan debt.

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it is going to be absolutely spectacular. the draft has never been done like this before. >> ron jaworski isn't holding

back when it comes to what philly can expect when the nfl draft gets to town. it will happen along the ben franklin parkway in late april. they expect more than 200,000 football fans to come. it will boost the coffers of plenty businesses. with me is jewelry coker grim. thanks for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> this is a big deal. what is in it for us? >> football is always a big deal. >> yes. absolutely. >> we go after events like this. we try to secure them for the city for three reasons. one, the economic impact as you talked about earlier. this is an over $80 million value in economic impact to the city, which basically means local and state taxes. it means direct and indirect spending, jobs, taxicab drivers. also the media exposure. on the first night, the first

round of the draft , which is thursday, there's been close to 8.3 million viewers who have watched the draft. that he that's going to be live in philadelphia. lastly, it's an opportunity so the nfl is going to build this wonderful theater on the parkway. that is going to support local jobs and our union trades will be busy putting up a fantastic structure on the parkway. >> folks can't wait. many business owners say that they lost money when the pope was in town because of the roads closed and the security. how is this going to be different? what can you say to those businessowners that may be concerned? >> i would say two main things. first, this is a different crowd attendee that's coming. the papal visit was more of a pilgrimage. there was a different focus as to why folks were in philadelphia. this particular event, football fans from all across the country as well as our residents are going to come downtown, enjoy the benjamin franklin parkway.

they will eat in restaurants. they will go to our cultural attractions, ride in cabs, they will park. there's a lot of opportunity for businesses locally to benefit from the draft. in addition to that, the biggest thing would certainly be the security protocol around the world meeting of families and the papal visit is different than the nfl draft. this event as well as all events we do outdoors on the parkway have a security element to it. but nothing to the level of the world meeting of families. >> the nfl draft, it's happening at the same time as the penn relays. two big things in the city at the same time. is that going to cause a nightmare? >> it isn't. it really isn't. i say that because the parkway certainly is for the nfl draft opens at noon so the fan experience on thursday will be noon to 11:00. obviously, it's the same time as penn relay. however, they're in different locations.

penn is in unit city. this is on the parkway. it gives sports fans the opportunity we hope to take part in both. >> how is the city attracting all of these big things? we have the pope. a lot of amazing events. why philadelphia? why are people coming here? >> i think the first thing i would say is that we do them extremely well. we did a great job with the papal visit. certainly, everyone remembers the summer to remember with the dnc. it was flawlessly executed. so i think our reputation as a city in handling marquis events is certainly there. for us, we previously had done the army/navy football game, philadelphia's bowl game. so certainly for an organization like the eagles and the nfl draft to look in the nfl to look at us, because we do sporting events extremely well in our city. also, i would say, philadelphia does a great job with a civic business collaboration. we really do come together as a city and as philadelphians to

put on events like this. out of town visitors have a wonderful time in our city. they know that. they want to return. i think a combination of all of those things and certainly all of the great work that everyone has done over the years in terms of infrastructure in the city and the cultural attractions and restaurants, the food scene that has exploded. all of that got us to where we are. >> there have been problems with attracting big events to the convention center. where do we stand on that? >> sure. i think you just said it. dnc and the world meeting of families, followed by the papal visit and now the nfl draft, all of those are signs that the convention center is doing an outstanding job. we had our record breaking summer last year and then this year we just finished out a record breaking booking year for conventions for the future. greg fox, who is the chair, and john mcnichol, the president and the entire board and all the unions -- the four unions that support the convention center

have done a good job bringing customers back to the city and taking care of them while they're here. the center is operating as really all that we knew it could be and certainly in terms of potential. whether it's a small meeting or large meeting, the convention center quite honestly is knocking it out of the park s. t >> what can people that want to go down there, what can they expect? we know it's big and cool. what can they expect? >> absolutely. as ron jaworski said, it's going to be epic, which we agree. pho folks can do a 40 yard dash and compete against their favorite player and realize how slow they are. they have the opportunity to walk through the nfl museum where they will see past super bowl rings and trophies. also the vince lombardi trophy will be on display. it is going to be a great

tailgate party. it's something for everyone. more importantly, it's something for all ages and it's free. >> awesome. julie, thanks for being here with you. a limited number of tickets will be made available for fans to see the draft up close. they will be picked by lottery on march 22. you have until march 19 to register. log on to nfl.com/fanmobilepass. it runs april 27 through the 29th. even if you don't score tickets, you can still be part of all the action on the parkway. it is free. next on nbc 10, a tradition here in philly on st. patrick's day, irish potatoes. you won't find them in ireland. what did the irish say about them? >> i think they love them. we have been doing these for 28 years now. we seem to be the people that everyone buys them for. ♪ we buy any car dot com ♪

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welcome back. they are a special candy that's only available this time of year. irish potatoes. if you think they originated in ireland, think again. irish potatoes are as philly as cheesesteak or the mummers. made here locally. dave, who owns christopher's chocolates, knows everything there is to know about irish potatoes. welcome. thanks for being here with us. they're not from ireland. >> they're not from ireland. they originated in philadelphia. they have been a philadelphia treat for over 100 years. originally, i think it was made to honor the irish and the potato famine. but really, truthfully, i think there was some crazy candy maker that was making easter eggs and

was looking for some kind of candy to sell between valentine's day and easter. he drops coconut cream easter egg into cinnamon and he looked and goes, that's a potato. i could sell that for an irish potato. that's how i think they originated. >> here we are. kind of a made up candy between those two holidays to generate extra income. >> there's not a lot of candy for st. patrick's day. once you get out of philadelphia, people don't know what irish potatoes are. if you go to new york, one in ten might know what they are. if you go down to washington, they don't know what they are. out west, they don't know what they are. it's a philadelphia thing. >> unique to us. what kind of sales this time of year? >> we actually start making irish potatoes just before the first of the year. in this area, we're in a lot of the major markets. we have done so far today 95,000 pounds. which works out to be 2 million

800,000. >> who is buying them? who is your number one buyer? >> my number one buyer as far as storefront, it's wa-wa. >> or a person. >> person? anybody who loves coconut. anybody who loves candy. we get a lot of sales for people who give up chocolate at lent. these are not chocolate. it's a butter cream that we put coconut flavoring. we have cinnamon that tumbles the balls into cinnamon. the two machines that we use are called cut and roll machines to make them. they're 130 years old. they don't make them anymore. >> what did irish say about them? >> i think they love them. everyone tells me, i'm irish. i have had irish potato all my life. we have been doing these for 28 years now. we seem to be the people that

everyone buys them from. >> any chance you will sell them year round? >> no, no. at st. patrick's day we stop making them. we want it to be seasonal. >> i grew up in this area. i haven't had one since i was a kid. do you mind if i try one? >> go right ahead. >> take one. you get these all the time. >> i eat like two a year now. >> taking me back to my childhood. good stuff. >> that's the way it's supposed to taste. >> dave, thanks for being here with us. we'll be right back. this is good.

that's it. thanks for joining us. let us know what issues you think we should be covering. call us at 610-668-5738. or find us on

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