As already blogged by Steve and Orac, Generation Rescue have undergone a change in both website and message.
Up until this week and for the last two years, Brad Handley – GR Head Honcho has promoted a message quite unequivocal:
“Autism is treatable. It’s reversible. It’s nothing more than mercury poisoning,†said JB Handley, founder of Generation Rescue.
In fact, giving a reason for the redesign of the site on Orac’s blog, Brad said:
From my perspective, our website and its message have always been broader than “its ONLY mercury”…
Huh. Weird. Maybe its just me but I detect a teensy-weensy inconsistency between those two statements. Lets switch to the video!!:
And for the non-video-blessed amongst us, what Brad said was:
We immediately realised…and I think this is something that is a big surprise to people….um, that autism is a misdiagnosis for mercury poisoning.
Riiight. So let me see if I can summarise the position. When there is no science to have an informed debate about mercury, and when there’s lots of scary sounding stuff like ‘the Amish aren’t vaccinated and have no autism’ or ‘CDDS proves the epidemic’ floating around then the situation is:
“Autism is treatable. It’s reversible. It’s nothing more than mercury poisoning”.
Now that there’s no science to establish a causative link between mercury and autism, plenty of epidemiology to refute it and now that the first piece of science on the Amish has shown that actually they do vaccinate and that the penny has finally dropped, even for David Kirby, regarding CDDS’ inability to support the epidemic, what is the Generation Rescue position now? Lets see shall we?:
Our children are experiencing epidemics of ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s, PDD-NOS, and Autism. We believe these neurological disorders (“NDs”) are environmental illnesses caused by an overload of heavy metals, live viruses, and bacteria.
Wow. So we’re now no longer talking about just autism. We’re now talking about ‘neurological disorders’, including ADD/ADHD which is not even classed as being on the spectrum. That is quite some turnabout.
And look at this! Now, we’re talking about a _combination_ of causative agents: heavy metals (not just mercury any more), live viruses and bacteria.
Incredible. Makes you feel almost sorry for poor old mercury don’t it? Last week it was the Terror of the High Seas. Now it doesn’t even make it as a distinct causative agent.
The ‘live viruses’ is in there to placate the Wakefield Worshipers who think the MMR also (or in combination with mercury) caused autism. The ‘bacteria’ mention is I’m guessing a nod to the Martha Herbert theory of mold causing autism – a theory that was described thusly last time Martha took it to court:
Dr. Herbert’s publications indicate that she is an outspoken advocate of increased attention to the possibility of environmental influences. Even she, however, despite that acknowledged perspective, speaks in her published work of possibilities and potentialities, rather than of the ‘reasonable degree of medical certainty’ to which she offers to testify under oath in this case. Neither Dr. Herbert’s publications, nor any others cited, identify mold exposure as even a suspected, still less a known or proven, trigger of autism
Going back to MMR and taking a brief side journey for a minute, here’s the latest update from the Autism Omnibus proceedings. When last we left it, Petitioners had put forward one family as a ‘test case’ to see if the whole Omnibus proceeding had enough merit to proceed. There were supposed to be three. Awhile ago, the court told Petitioners to hurry up and identify the other two. They couldn’t. Respondents replied with:
The Court ordered the PSC to find two cases (similar enough to the first) to present the same basic theory of causation…..the essence of its (PSC’s) response is that it does not know of any case presenting the same causation issues as are implicated in Cedillo.
Ouch. How long has this been dragging on? Five years or something? And out of the 4,700 cases in the Omnibus no other case can be found to match the first one put forward. The only people who must be enjoying this are the lawyers.
Anyway, back to Generation Rescue.
Of particular note is the much vaunted, never seen ‘California-Oregon Unvaccinated Children Survey’ of described thusly by GR:
no studies have ever been done to compare neurological disorder (“ND”) rates of unvaccinated children to vaccinated children. We commissioned a national market research firm to survey more than 17,000 children in California and Oregon.
National market research firm eh? How very scientific. Researching popular chewing gum, researching autism causation. Yep, they’re the same. Souds very much like a a ‘convenience sample’ where people are called up. Here’s a friend of Brad’s describing what a convenience sample is and is not:
So. Not data according to David Kirby. Bummer.
Generation Rescue have also revamped their ‘Testimonials’ section. This is the section I looked at I August of last year and reached a (very) rough figure of a 5% success rate for the kids talked about on the GR site where ‘success’ is losing the diagnosis:
Out of these 59 success stories, just 3 describe their child as having been reclassified as no longer meeting a diagnosis of ASD. That’s a ‘recovery’ rate of 5%. Interestingly, one of these cases states they did not use chelation at all. That puts the Generation Rescue chelation success rate at a little over 3%.
Now, Generation Rescue have 76 ‘success stories’ (except they’re not called that any more, now they’re ‘testimonials’). Of that number, 6 claim full recovery with total loss of diagnosis. That’s a percentage of 7.8%. A heady leap of over 2%. Woo-hoo.
I was drawn to some of the newer testimonials, particularly the 6 year old ones as Meg only recently turned 7. One of them, about a girl called Liz was fascinating.
Our daughter Liz was diagnosed with low functioning autism at age three. We blamed the DTP vaccine which she had a bad reaction to. She would have very long lasting meltdowns, she would smear faeces, she would exhibit self injurious behaviour, she did not talk at all, she avoided eye contact and her only activity was that involving toys that spun. She walked on her tip toes and the doctor said she had a low IQ (below 70). We were told by mainstream medicine that she was ‘unreachable’.
Today Liz is six and after following biomedical interventions (and some other things) Liz will talk – on Christmas morning this year I went to wake her up and she said ‘good morning’ to me. She no longer smears faeces and is 99% toilet trained, she can write notes to people and knows all the letters of the alphabet and can count up to 40 unprompted. She can use a computer mouse unaided and has numerous favourite websites. The self injurious behaviour is vastly lessened, as are the meltdowns. Her eye contact is now perfect and overall her sensory issues seem 99% under control. She can drink out of a normal cup and use a knife, fork and spoon to eat whilst sitting at the table.
In so many ways, this is a different child.
Why was I drawn to this little girl so much?
Because it’s Megan’s story. I assumed a false name – Mr Clarence House – and emailed it to the Generation Rescue site. ‘Clarence’ received an email saying it was going to be on the new site which I was very happy about.
All of it is true except the name. The biomedical treatments I was talking about were multi vitamins, fish oil and a steroid inhlaer for her asthma. The ‘other things’ were love, acceptance, patience and education.
Why do this? To prove a point. You can make anyone’s story fit your own beliefs if you twist it hard enough.
Don’t worry, if it disappears I took a loving screenshot.
Brad Handley has tried to shift his goalposts as his first guess wasn’t working out. As evidenced above, he has latched on to items that are equally silly. As evidenced above he is incapable of seeing autism. He only sees mercury. As evidenced above, improvement is not limited – or even related to – detoxification of heavy metals.
Left Brain Right Brain 
Priceless.
What’s your clearance Clarence? Roger, Over.
Wow, Mr. House is wonderful! Are you sure that your doctor didn’t sneak any chelation items into your child’s inhaler? 😉 (if they can sneak in mercury surely they can sneak in some chelation agent!) (yes, this is sarcasm).
And, as always, I’m thrilled that your daughter continues to grow – as I would expect from a child. All this despite not chelating. Will the wonders never cease? 🙂
Clarence House—-as in the clearing the house? shining some (clear) light into the darkness….
“Like Amway.” Yeah, much like Amway. Is Brad still with scientology.org?
As I said in my blog post:
“Anyway, other bloggers will do a much more effective job than I of covering all of the misinformation housed on this site.”
Score one for Kev! Brilliant idea with Megan’s success story. The best part of it is …. Megan’s success story! I couldn’t care less about GR’s reaction to this type of direct denouncement of their core beliefs when it is held up to a story with a happy ending (continuance, anyway) whose primary plotlines are “…love, acceptance, patience, and education.”
OMG. Kevin. LMAO. I can’t believe you sent a bogus testimonial to Gen Rescue.
I did the same quite a while back.
It’s still there! I enjoy checking on it now and then for a chuckle.
Great minds lol.
I’m not a quack or a lawyer, just pranking to see if Gen Rescue would post anything sent.
Still LMAO.
Kevin:
Thank you for contributing to our site – you help us give hope that autism is treatable to other parents.
Perhaps it was the homeopathy?
Don’t worry, the post won’t be pulled, I’m rather tickled you took the time to write.
And, in all sincerity, whatever the means, I only hope for the best for your daughter.
Mercurialry yours,
BH
Generation Rescue is plainly a litigants group. But their manifest change of stance doesn’t only serve the lawsuits: it firmly lays down a proposition that is incapable of refutation.
No study of any kind could ever disprove the claim that all these different things – mercury, viruses, chemicals, blah blah – can, acting together, cause autism.
Maybe they can, maybe they can’t. For sure, nobody will know in our lifetimes. In any event (as we saw recently with Mr Kirby’s post-book-sales change of tack), the proposition autism=mercury-poisoning appears to be off the table.
So now, for the present, we have two discredited hypotheses (mercury and MMR) bolted together for the omnibus hearing. Which, evidently, now goes down the road of: child has shots on Monday, shows what plaintiffs claim were first signs of autism on Friday, defendants can’t show any other cause, therefore, on the weak vaccine court standards, the masters are asked to give the kid the money because drug companies are evil bastards, and no harm’s done.
Why was I drawn to this little girl so much?
Because it’s Megan’s story. I assumed a false name – Mr Clarence House – and emailed it to the Generation Rescue site. ‘Clarence’ received an email saying it was going to be on the new site which I was very happy about.
All of it is true except the name. The biomedical treatments I was talking about were multi vitamins, fish oil and a steroid inhlaer for her asthma. The ‘other things’ were love, acceptance, patience and education.
This is the best ‘takedown of bullshit’ I’ve seen since someone generated a whole heap of incoherent crap on his computer and got it accepted by a postmodernism journal.
I’m surprised they weren’t falling all over themselves to find out what the ‘biomedical treatments’ were, but simply swallowed the woo-ish sounding name; another clear sign that they are practising not only pseudoscience, but shoddy pseudoscience. (If they were merely practising misguided, slightly wrong-headed science, they would have asked.)
You, sir, are my hero of the day.
Dear Mr Leitch:
Thank you again for your helpful comments about your daughter. We know they will provide comfort to a family in crisis dealing with a newly diagnosed child.
Because you are a public figure, we were able to access some of the other thoughtful posts you have provided on your daughter in the past, and we will be adding those to her profile to further benefit families. Should families want to contact you directly to better understand your current thinking, we’ll provide appropriate contact information.
As a parent who also witnessed his child react to DPT, I empathize deeply with what you went through. Indeed, seeing our child suffer that way takes many of us to the edge of madness, and we all deal a bit differently on the other side of such trauma.
Sincerely yours,
JB Handley
Generation Rescue
Additional posts:
Megan was born on 17-02-00 weighing slightly more than usual. The first few months of her life were totally normal- we didn’t feel concerned about her health or well-being at all. That changed however when she had her DTP jab.
I know there’s been a lot about the jabs (particularly the combined MMR jab) in the news but we (or rather I, Naomi was a lot more dubious than me but I managed to convince her) decided to go ahead with it and on the night of her first lot of jabs Megan began projectile vomiting and developed a temperature that peaked at 102 degrees. We phoned for an Ambulance and took her to A and E where they brought her temperature down, then told us they couldn’t find much wrong with her. We were relieved but by the end of that week we knew something was wrong with Megs. She seemed subtely different. There was nothing you could put your finger on as such but the difference was there, she was late walking and was uncomfortable around others.
***
I’m sure that I’m not the only parent of an autistic child that just doesn’t know what to think anymore. We believe that the 3 in 1 jab Megan had triggered her autism and we also believe that there was mercury used as a suspension fluid in her DTP jab.
So why exactly is the Thimerasol (the mercury preservative used in the jabs) so bad in the whooping cough vaccine that it warrants removal of the vaccine and yet the Thimerasol in the DTP (and plenty of other) vaccines is not considered an autism causative?
Maybe I’m missing something here but the evidence for me is mounting that the Gvmt in this country need to urgently investigate mercury based vaccines of all kinds.
***
Naomi (my better half who in an amusing but unrelated event took an online test to find out what sort of leader she was recently and came out as Hitler 😀 ) used to work at a Health Clinic as a receptionist. It was a bit ‘new agey’ this place and offered chiropracters, massage-therapists, hypno-therapists and homeopathists.
As is my wont I sneered at most of these treatments without actually trying them or even reading up about them. Yay me.
Anyway, when Megan was diagnosed with ASD, Naomi kept in touch with the homeopathist who she used to work with and this homeopathist, Karyl, began to treat Megan.
I was totally unprepared for how succesful it was. I mean I was really shocked at the difference. All I could see was Naomi giving Megan various combos of these little sugar pills but gradually, over time, Karyl got the balance right. It still needs tweaking as Megan grows but the Homeopathic regime Megan is on has cleared her body of a lot of the toxins introduced by the immunisations she had and-best of all- has helped her settle back down into a much more stable sleeping pattern. Megan has her Homeopathic stuff twice daily with Eye-Q and a multi-vitamin and the combination really has worked wonders on her patience, temper, perception, concentration, cognition and general happiness.
I’d strongly recommend Homeopathy as a treatment. If anyone wants to speak to our Homeopathist in particular, let me know by posting here and I’ll send her details to you- she really has changed our lives with Megan.
Oh, and Kevin:
bones.0504?
Is that your new handle?
Does posing as someone your not on EOH count as being a liar? Just tring to understand where your “faecal smear” of a moral compass rests.
BH
Here’s something new at Generation Rescue’s new Autism Speaks-friendlier website.
Remember the Julie Berle story. Something about it was the vaccines, both the MMR and all that mercury, that when chelated (her boy was recovered almost overnight!)
“It has been almost two years since the day Baxter lost his diagnosis of autism. He’ll be 8 next month. So, its time for an update!…”
“…A residual effect of his early toxicity that can flare from time to time is his gut. About once or twice a year he will develop diarrhea, get cranky, short tempered and a bit impulsive. Its then that I know I need a stool analysis which will show an increase in bad bacteria and yeast. Once treated, he bounces right back. I am working with a few doctors to try and bolster his system so that this kind of flare-up recedes forever.”
Okay so is that the gut flares are symptom of long-term post mercury poisoning recovery? How does that work? What, diarrhea and crankiness a couple of times a year? And it’s the vaccines (or did she say it was the mercury) that did it a few years ago? Right. Bard or Julie, do non-asd children ever get diarrhea? What about cranky and short tempered? Impulsive?
I like that video of Julie at a DAN! conference or something saying something along the lines of “All the treatments worked for her boy in some way”. This anecdote is quickly turning in to a tall tale, “the recovery that wasn’t”. What a bunch of bullshit. His “progress” is just that, probably natural development (and a lot of good parenting, minus the loony medical crap, on Julie’s part).
You’re pathetic Bard. You should at the least make a clear public statement that you were wrong about the whole Bernard, “autism is mercury poisoning thing” (you know formally retract all your statements to that effect) because it looks like that kind of mindset has screwed (or will soon screw) a lot of clueless parents, judging by the 4700 still in the OMNIBUS of which none could be identified to serve as a test case for Thimerosal so far. You know, the ones who believe their kids are toxic based on bullshit tests, and might be spending a fortune on expensive DAN! doctor visits.
Speaking of DAN! doctors, is Dr. Usman expensive? Maybe she’s not. How about Dr. Kerry? Maybe he has reasonable fess too. I don’t really know.
What do you and David Kirby do you now? Tell all those parents to hang on while you figure out all of the vague vaccine and environmental angles?
In the meantime, I don’t think it’s too surprising that you seem to be trying to reinvent yourself as a pure antivax/environmental toxin kind of guy.
I appreciate all the insults.
Maybe if you say enough of them, Kevin won’t look like the hypocritical jack-ass that he is.
Kevin, if I pushed for the shot against my wife’s maternal instincts, I’d be wrecked with guilt, too.
You may want to try psychotherapy to heal, or ask one of the weirdos here for one of the many brain drugs I’m sure they are told to take, it beats blogging with a bunch of nut-jobs.
BH
Bard,
I don’t blame you for not responding to my comment. Bringing out more bullshit now won’t support what you obviously consider the public will perceive as yesterday’s cause. But you really should consider answering this question:
What do you and David Kirby do you now? Tell all those (omnibus) parents to hang on while you figure out all of the vague vaccine and environmental angles?
Brad – you can add whatever you feel like adding. I’ve told you that many times :o) Just make sure you credit the source.
_”bones.0504?”_
Sorry Brad, I only ever post anywhere under my own name. I’ll happily supply you with my IP address for Lenny to compare against if you’re that concerned.
_”Kevin, if I pushed for the shot against my wife’s maternal instincts, I’d be wrecked with guilt, too”_
I doubt you would. But some couples talk things over Brad. I guess some don’t and need therapy as you recommend. Did it help for you and Lisa?
If you guys can’t find the testominial, it’s now under “Megan”
Thanks again for the contribution, it’s quite additive.
BH
_”Thanks again for the contribution, it’s quite additive”_
Its quite what? There are two errors in the entry by the way – the first is a link to the source as I specified you should provide. The second is that Meg is actually seven.
And all round good show at changing the subject. Doesn’t it concern you that children show just as much development when they don’t detoxify or buy into quackery?
When is your TV appearance to explain you were wrong about it being nothing more than mercury?
Come on Bard,
How about answering a question.
What do you and David Kirby do now? Tell all those (omnibus) parents to hang on while you two figure out all of the vague vaccine and environmental angles?
Kevin:
I’ll try this once, without profanity, knowing full well it will probably be a complete waste of time, and that soon after I post Diva will post in 30 different names to lob the same tired insluts about whatever happens to be inside her pharma-controlled brain.
When we launched Generation Rescue, Dr. Rimland was extremely supportive. However, the one issue he had with how we positioned things was the simplicity and narrow nature of the message. While he felt mercury was a primary contributor to the rise in autism cases, he felt there were other things in the vaccines and other things in the environment that also mattered.
I agreed with Dr. Rimland, but forged ahead with a clear message because I believed that people needed to be challenged to see autism as more than a label and recognize that our kids are in a toxic state and in need of immediate care. Challenging conventional wisdom by referring to our kids as both “misdiagnosed” and “poisoned” has been highly effective in calling attention to the crisis and forcing journalists and parents to deal with what is happening inside their bodies.
However, the overwhelming evidence that I see is that the live viruses in vaccines, and other ingrediants, are also a huge part of the story. I have met too many parents like you who saw their kids go upside down after DTP and MMR.
I fully anticipated the hair-splitting that would come from the microscopic tent you hide out in, and here it is. Feigned outrage is a over-riding theme of how you and your comrades respond whenever anything happens in our world.
I must say that I was very much caught off guard by you submitting Megan as a testimonial, partly because I didn’t think you would stoop that low and partly because I have read the posts about your past with Megan. Making you look silly for doing that was one of the easier responses I’ve ever had to make, and I think it highlights the walls you have built up around yourself and the degree to which you have distanced yourself from your earlier, and far more clear, understanding of what happened to your daughter. How you didn’t think I would reference those old posts is beyond me!! You will have her testimonial as a permanent reminder of the walls in your own head. And, in beautiful irony from my POV, I’m confident it will help a parent or two who is considering homeopathy.
So be it. As you are well aware, the far larger and more important issue still stands before us (and between us) which is this:
– Is “autism” a response to a toxic state and therefor treatable?
– Or, is autism simply one of God’s many neurological conditions that some of us end up with and there is no way to cure it?
That’s the real issue.
The reason that I continue to post here and actually attempt to engage with this group, despite overwhelming advice to move on, is that Megan and Jamie’s stories are very, very similar. Whilst you attempt every now again to benchmark jamie and deem him somehow where Megan is developmentally, I take extreme exception to this characterization. Not only is Jamison 2 1/2 years younger than your daughter, but by all accounts he is doing materially better, particularly if you compare where they were at the same age. 2 1/2 years for a kid doing biomed is a lifetime.
I’m not sure how you can come across as so anti-biomed while noting that Megan’s sleep improved after Homeopathy, but I’m sure you will find some contrived way to explain it.
One final thought or comment. I have nothing to do with the Omnibus hearings. Honestly, I don’t know the first thing about them, and I’m certainly in no position to profit from them, as I’m not a litigant nor have I ever been. I hope every parent who wants their day in court gets it, and I certainly hope their position prevails, but attempting to somehow link me to June is simply inaccurate.
You and your band of wingnuts can make up whatever reason you want for why I started GR, but there is only one truth: I started it to help my son and other kids.
Cheerio,
BH
I’ll respond to you without profanity Brad because – well, because I’m capable of it and don’t have to make a concious effort not to.
I find your excuse for your stance that autism was ‘nothing but mercury poisoning’ before Rimland was dead and now you don’t as contrived, clutching and desperate.
I find your definition of the fact that you are still unable to provide any causative evidence linking autism to any vaccine as ‘hairsplitting’ as hilarious.
_”However, the overwhelming evidence that I see is that the live viruses in vaccines, and other ingrediants, are also a huge part of the story. I have met too many parents like you who saw their kids go upside down after DTP and MMR.”_
Of course you did Brad. You can say whatever you like _after_ the fact. Feel free to carry on making up whatever suits your theory du jour :o)
_”I must say that I was very much caught off guard by you submitting Megan as a testimonial, partly because I didn’t think you would stoop that low”_
Stoop as low as what? What is it you don’t get here? The last time Meg received anything that might be considered remotely quacky was four years ago. All of her significant gains have come on since then.
_”Making you look silly for doing that was one of the easier responses I’ve ever had to make, and I think it highlights the walls you have built up around yourself and the degree to which you have distanced yourself from your earlier, and far more clear, understanding of what happened to your daughter. How you didn’t think I would reference those old posts is beyond me!!”_
I think you need to understand exactly what it is you are doing and my responses to it. I am _perfectly happy_ for you to use anything thats on this blog for your site. I said as much to you in (IIRC) 2005 when you last brought up these posts.
They aren’t secrets. I don’t and have never hidden them. They are a legitimate record of how I felt at the time. If you want to use them then be my guest.
However, what I demand is that you source those posts you are using. You are using them in a misleading way that is totally in line with your usual desire to distort. Those posts form part of our journey as a family. You are denying your readers the opportunity to read the full story. As the author of those posts and as they did not form part of any submission made to you I am more than happy for you to use them but _source them_ . Let people make up their own minds after having had a chance to read the story for themselves. Or is there something about that scenario you don’t like?
_”You will have her testimonial as a permanent reminder of the walls in your own head.”_
They’ve been a permanent reminder on this blog for four years you idiot.
_”And, in beautiful irony from my POV, I’m confident it will help a parent or two who is considering homeopathy.”_
Again, this would be openly misleading of you. You are consciously refusing to let people have possession of the full facts and are cherry picking the sections you feel benefit your beliefs. Why deny people the opportunity to make up their own mind?
Keep the quotes – but source them.
_”The reason that I continue to post here and actually attempt to engage with this group, despite overwhelming advice to move on, is that Megan and Jamie’s stories are very, very similar.”_
Yes Brad they are. What does that suggest to you?
_”2 1/2 years for a kid doing biomed is a lifetime.”_
Indeed it is. Especially when his Dad went on TV and said it would take an absolute maximum of two years to completely recover him and make him 100% neurotypical.
_”I’m not sure how you can come across as so anti-biomed while noting that Megan’s sleep improved after Homeopathy, but I’m sure you will find some contrived way to explain it.”_
Well, firstly Brad, I’m not anti-biomed. Not sure where you got that from. Secondly, Meg’s sleep did indeed _seem_ to improve following homeopathy. However, we stopped using homeopathy four years ago after it got bad again adn we realsied Homeopathy was actually useless. Now her sleep fluctuates between good and bad. This last winter she had a period of sleeping through every night for about three months. At the moment we’re lucky if she sleeps for four hours.
_”but attempting to somehow link me to June is simply inaccurate.”_
Good job I didn’t then eh? And I urge you again, if you are interested in accuracy, then source the quotes you have taken from this blog.
_”You and your band of wingnuts can make up whatever reason you want for why I started GR, but there is only one truth: I started it to help my son and other kids.”_
I’m sure you did Brad but somewhere along the way you got caught up in the quackery and became, in your own words, a wing-nut. A wing nut who cannot even keep track of his own lies.
“…but there is only one truth: I started it [GR] to help my son and other kids.â€
No, you started GR for selfish and foolish reasons because you will not accept your child as he is. You have the resources to take your child to the best docs in the world. And where do you go? To Dr. Buttar.
And with the death of that poor boy Tariq Nadama, you and everyone else who supported these quacks have blood on your hands. Which one of your untrained rescue angels pointed Tariq’s parents to that clinic?
No one with your background would seek out quacks and charlatans to practice high-priced woo unless they have a fundamental inability to accept life on life’s terms.
Come on, herpes medications? You’re not doing that for you son.
I apologize Bard. I did not mean to imply that you had anything to do directly with June.
I was really referring to possible influence of beliefs with parents. (Websites, Full-page ads, TV interviews, Participation on EoH, etc.).
I got the impression you, Generation Rescue, and maybe the rescue angels, were likely influential with respect to beliefs among at least some omnibus parents. I suppose I could be completely wrong about that. If you claim that’s the case, that’s good enough for me.
I wonder how all those who have so fervently heeded the GR battle cry “All autism is mercury poisoning!” are going to feel when they learn it was really more of a marketing slogan.
I know I don’t spend that much time on the blogs these days, but I wanted to comment on this one. It was hilarious, Kev. And as usual, Brad only shows up when he’s rattled.
The Age of Autism: Heavy metal
By DAN OLMSTED
“For parents who are on their backs with a foot on their neck trying to keep their lives together, we want to help them get to the truth as quickly as possible to help their kids. That is the single reason Generation Rescue exists,” said co-founder J.B. Handley of San Francisco, father of a three-year-old, Jamison, who he says has been transformed by chelation (key-LAY-shun) therapy.
…
“Through our own research and initiative we have discovered a truth that we feel every parent should know,” states the group’s Web site, generationrescue.org, which Handley said is funded exclusively by parent donations. ”
“Autism, Asperger’s, ADD, ADHD … other learning disabilities, and many auto-immune disorders including asthma, juvenile onset diabetes, and anaphylactic food allergies are all caused by and symptoms of mercury poisoning primarily induced by a vaccine preservative called thimerosal.”
Update Dan,
That discovered “truth” is subject to change without notice.
So, I’m a wing-nut now? Strange position for a sensible shoe wearing, rather conservative middle-aged lady to be in, but then, let’s just conclude, charitably, that some people’s judgment is perhaps more fallible than others.
Why doesn’t the man do something really worthwhile with his time. like protect innocent children from the Geiers’ chicanery.
Nice one Kev – impersonating the Prince of Wales:)
Love and hugs to Meg
Does anyone believe that GR will admit a mistake? Let’s see, they recommended chelation to children who were damaged by a virus or bacterium…
What happens if long-term chelation is shown to harm children. What is the statute of limitations on civil suits in California?
Matt
Dear Mercury Dad,
Generation Rescue and the Rescue “Angels†have steadfastly held that mercury in vaccine is THE cause of autism. Thousands of parents have read that propaganda, some may have started chelation as a result of it and all the testimonials given there. Folks who could not accept the claim that mercury in vaccine is THE cause were loudly decried.
Now the wheels are coming off of that train of thought so a paradigm shift is required. Hard left at the next intersection, shift to viruses in vaccine.
Not one word to all of those parents taken in by the prior propaganda. Not so much as a “hey it looks like mercury may not have been the causeâ€. What about parents who are using chelation? Now that GR is going to make virus in vaccine the cause of the day there is not even an oh bye the way chelation does nothing when it comes to a virus so you may want to rethink what you are doing. Ethically, is that too much to ask? I don’t think it is.
Personally, I am not interested in your new theory about viruses in vaccine. Sure you will make pronouncements of “overwhelming†evidence to support your theory; of course none of it will be producible. None of it will be any more reliable than the “overwhelming†evidence that mercury was THE cause.
I think Generation Rescue and the people behind it have spent too much time and energy on mercury and being against everything else. Shifting to viruses in vaccine will still not make you or the group relevant or believable.
Here is the change in the litigant-parent group “Generation Rescue” position on the cause of autism, as illustrated by a Wikipedia revision dated 30 April 2007.
The litigant-parents’ story 1:
“Generation Rescue believes that autism and other developmental issues are actually misdiagnoses for mercury poisoning and blames [[thimerosal]], a vaccine preservative, as the primary source of the poisoning. The organization cites that a rising use of thimerosal correlates with the [[autism epidemic]] and claims that [[Biomedical intervention for autism|biomedical intervention]] can cure these various ailments.”
The litigant-parents’ story 2:
“Generation Rescue believes that autism and other developmental issues are evironmental illnesses and partially blames [[thimerosal]], a vaccine preservative, as a source of the poisoning. The claims that [[Biomedical intervention for autism|biomedical intervention]] can cure these various ailments.”
This is plainly a revision to bring the organisation into line with their attorneys’ efforts to chisel out a case for the vaccine court.