Archive | September, 2008

The Autism Hub stretches its wings some more

18 Sep

Mike from Action for Autism is heading down to London for the NAS International Autism Conference on behalf of the Hub tomorrow.

This continues the great work Steve started back in the winter of 2007/08 and carried through during the early part of this summer at USD.

I am utterly thrilled to see the Hub gaining such prominence amongst the scientific elite of American society and the group I feel is the most ‘ND’ friendly in the world – the UK’s National Autistic Society. It really does feel like the right people are listening to Hub members and so the right message is gaining prominence.

Mike’s presentation introduces the Hub to the NAS audience and goes through the history of how the web has traditionally been used in autism advocacy and how the Hub tries to redress the imbalance.

I have been tangentially involved in Mike’s preparations in my role as a designer but I would have loved to have been able to stand alongside Mike at the conference and showcase the Hub. One day.

The future of the Hub is very, very bright. All Hub members are involved in discussing how to take the Hub forward and what should be next. Dave and HJ are managing what is a very fluid process and I am really excited to be part of that team of dynamic and forward thinking individuals.

Go Hub!!

Chelation study 'called off'

17 Sep

CHICAGO – A government agency has dropped plans to test a controversial treatment for autism that critics had called an unethical experiment on children.

The National Institute of Mental Health said in a statement Wednesday that the study of chelation (kee-LAY’-shun) has been discontinued. The statement says the agency decided the money would be better used testing other potential therapies for autism and related disorders.

The study had been on hold because of safety concerns . A study published last year linked a chemical used in the treatment to lasting brain problems in rats.

The treatment removes heavy metals from the body and is based on the fringe theory that mercury in vaccines triggers autism — a theory never proved and rejected by mainstream science.

Yahoo News

Back in June, I blogged about the possibility of the delayed chelation study being released. It had been delayed due to the same ethical concerns that now seem to have scuppered it. I can only view this development with relief. As I said at the time:

Lets be clear. This study is being touted about for one reason and one reason only – to appease the anti-vaccine/autism groups. In the mainstream medical/scientific community (and notably in the toxicology community) it is well known that autistic kids aren’t toxic.

Click on the link above to see some quoted testimony from Dr Jeffery Brent, world renowned Toxicologist. His opinion on the need for chelation of autisitic children is thoroughly discussed. Basically, when you do the provoked, non-standard tests from labs that make a good living from charging for these tests, they come back positive. When experts like Dr Brent do the gold standard tests, 100% of the time they come back normal.

There is no reason to chelate autistic children.

The most bizarre conspiracy theories yet

17 Sep

Two new conspiracy theories this week. The first one is an eye-roller. The second is an eye-popper.

The first one is the alleged hacking of Ray Gallup’s Vaccine Autoimmunity Project. I came across this email from JABS regular John Stone:

Unincidentally, I was appalled to hear today that VAP website has been hacked into and is likely to be down for an extended period.

If this is how people like Offit, not to mention Berners-Lee [more on this later – Kev] and Ghosh (see my previous post) think the future should be, our politicians ought to consider what is tolerable in an alleged free society.

As the poet Heinrich Heine noted in 1823: “Where they burn books, they will in the end burn people”.

“Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.”

These people already have the advantage of media domination, but they will not allow a word of dissent. If their science is so perfect, why cannot they discuss it?

So, following Stone’s train of thought, he seems to be stating that Paul Offit thinks that its OK that websites are hacked? I really doubt that.

But the really pointed allusion is in his last paragraph. He seems to be suggesting that ‘they’ (Offit et al) ‘will not allow’ oppositional views.

Did Paul Offit put out a contract on VAP? Somehow I really, really doubt it.

Ray Gallup’s reply was even more paranoid.

John,

Thank you very much.

I suspect that certain people had a hired gun to do this virus thing to VAP like I’m sure you have the same suspicions. Lots of PharmaMafia people out there that want to silence VAP by screwing up the VAP website with a virus including their surogates at such sites as Neurodiversity.com, etc.

Ray Gallup

My, my. Ray thinks someone from Neurodiversity.com (i.e. Kathleen or Dave) trojaned the VAP website.

I’m going to go out on a limb and go for user error. The server error (Directory Listing Denied) does not speak of a hack to me. Hacks are usually defacements of the original page which are non-destructive. This looks more to me like ahem, ‘someone’ has accidentally deleted the root file. If that is the case, simply asking the host (ixwebhosting.com) to restore the page from a backup (assuming they take them) would sort the problem out immediately. You can thank me later Ray.

So, thats the eye-roller. The eye-popper is way better.

On Monday, inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee said:

Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.

……..

The use of the web to spread fears that flicking the switch on the LHC could create a Black Hole that could swallow up the Earth particularly concerned him, he said. In a similar vein was the spread of rumours that the MMR vaccine given to children in Britain was harmful. Sir Tim told BBC News that there needed to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources.

Ooooh, you can imagine how well _that_ went down in certain quarters, right? A few hours later, the following was posted to EoH:

Group With Big Pharma Ties Wants to Shut Down Vaccine “Conspiracy Theories”

So, first inaccuracy: Sir Tim didn’t mention ‘shutting down’. He mentioned providing a label for trustworthiness.

But anyway, I was intrigued as to who this ‘group with Big Pharma ties’ were. So I read on:

Kingpins of Military-Industrial complex say they will “brand” websites they consider “trustworthy and reliable sources of information” A foundation populated by the giants of business, banking, government and military wants to “vet” websites and limit the spread of information that it says creates “conspiracy theories”. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), fronted by Internet creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee, says it is worried about the way the web has been “used to spread disinformation”.

Wait…what? W3C??? Kingpin of Military-Industrial complex???

For those that don’t know W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) is:

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C’s mission is:

To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.

In my job as a web developer I have a lot of dealings with the standards developed by W3C. They helped develop the code that that is used in _all_ websites and they helped develop the ‘rules’ that allow web browsers such as the one you are using right now to view those websites.

Those ‘rules’ help make sure that code is used responsibly. It made Microsoft behave and develop the vastly improved browser of IE7. Its code is responsible for the fact that many, many more websites are accessible to people with disabilities than they used to be.

In a nutshell, what they do is draw up standards for code use for people like me and people like software developers. The idea of them being a ‘Kingpin of Military-Industrial complex’ is hilarious.

Here’s the full member list. Being a member ensures you one thing and one thing only: a say in how the standards of the future are shaped. I assure you there are no Illuminati lizards running around in Black Helicopters.

In all of the utterly crazy conspiracy theories I’ve seen so far, this one is right up there at the top of the tree.

Rethinking Expertise

16 Sep

I got an email recently with a link to this blog post by another Sullivan, Andrew Sullivan, of the Atlantic. Mr. Sullivan pulled a section out of this interview by New Scientist managing editor Greg Ross of Harry Collins. They are discussing the new book, Rethinking Expertise.

I would say that the danger to democracy that my own discipline—social studies of science—is not doing enough to combat is the collapse of the idea of expertise. Current social studies of science has difficulty with the notion of expertise. The attitude that anyone’s opinion on any topic is equally valuable could spread, and there are some indications, such as widespread vaccine scares, that suggest it is happening. A world in which there is said to be no difference between those who know what they are talking about and those who don’t is not one that anyone who thinks about it wants. Such a society would be like one’s worst nightmare, exhibiting many of the characteristics of the most vile epochs of human history.

On first read I wanted to say thank you to Prof. Collins for leaving the “autism community” out of the picture. But, this statement rings too true to think that we he wasn’t just being polite: “The attitude that anyone’s opinion on any topic is equally valuable could spread, and there are some indications, such as widespread vaccine scares, that suggest it is happening”? It’s just too accurate a description of the vaccine-rejectionists in the greater autism community.

It’s worth looking at the interview itself. One paragraph that caught my eye is quoted below:

Expertise is important not only within science but also for understanding the public’s relationship with science. Nowadays any parent of a young child, or anyone who can access the Internet, thinks their opinions on technical matters are sound. Many of my colleagues in the social sciences seem to think the same thing. The trouble is that the speed of politics is faster than the speed of scientific consensus formation, so politicians are often faced with making decisions without firm scientific answers to lean on, and this makes science look like anyone else’s opinion. I found I wanted to work out how to value expertise without going back to the bad old days where anyone in a white coat was treated as an authority on anything scientific or technological. We have to solve the very hard problem of reconstructing the value of science when we know it can’t deliver the certainty that people want. Studying expertise may do the trick.

“Nowadays any parent of a young child, or anyone who can access the Internet, thinks their opinions on technical matters are sound.”

Ouch. There are just too many examples of that, just in recent days, that picking any one out is difficult.

What Prof. Collins is proposing is interesting: a way to quantify expertise. I doubt it will happen soon, so we can expect more of the same false expertise. Frankly, even if we could quantify expertise, the same psychology at play will keep people from accepting it.

Seriously, if we could put a real number on expertise, would it matter? As a whole, society puts more credence behind the person sitting on the couch on a talk show than the person who spent years at the bench in a laboratory. Do I need a number to quantify the levels of expertise?

Thank god research is decided through peer review and not the talk show circuit. (If you think peer review of research proposals is a good thing, and you want to keep it that way, contact the IACC).

But, the takeaway for me on this is scary: if vaccine rejectionists are being used as examples of false expertise, how far away is the “autism community”? Let’s face it, the outside world doesn’t see the various communities that make up the greater autism community. And, the loudest voices of the “autism community” are the vaccine rejectionists.

ASAN on the IACC

15 Sep

Ari has put together a ‘call to arms’ everyone should read:

Below is a document of considerable importance. Right now, the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee is seeking public comment on issues relating to service-delivery. In our conversations with NIMH, we’ve heard a considerable willingness to move closer towards our position, if supported by a sufficiently strong public comment. The deadline on this is this coming Friday, the 19th. If people would be willing to post this on their blogs and also post their personal e-mails to NIMH on their blogs, we’d appreciate the help in turning people out to this. The initial version of this that has gone out on listservs and so on did not include the contact info to send the public comments to – an error on our part – but we’ve added it here. People should direct their comments, stories and so on to iaccservices@mail.nih.gov by September 19th, 2008. More info from NIMH can be found here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-MH-08-016.html. I’d also like to add that this is the first of two public comments in relation to the IACC that will be due this month – we’ll be sending out a primer on the second call for comments on the research Strategic Plan that will be due on the 30th. I have to stress here that volume is a major priority in what we want as far as responses go – we want lots of them and from lots of people. You don’t need extensive citations or anything of that nature – just send something expressing your support for quality of life, communication and similarly important research priorities. This is a top priority for us and we hope you can help us bring out our population – again, the quantity of our response will indicate to NIMH the extent to which the neurodiversity/autistic self-advocacy community should be viewed as a major stakeholder.

Regards,
Ari Ne’eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
1660 L Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org
732.763.5530

ASAN BACKGROUND AND TALKING POINTS ON IACC REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON SUPPORTS AND SERVICES

BACKGROUND:

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has put out a Request for Information (RFI) to seek input from stakeholders (those interested in autism), including autistic individuals, about what they consider to be high-priority issues and concerns surrounding services and supports for children, youth, and adults with ASD.

The RFI is due no later than Sept. 19, 2008, seven days from now. People should direct their comments to iaccservices@mail.nih.gov by September 19th, 2008. More info from NIMH can be found here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-MH-08-016.html.

This RFI provides an excellent opportunity for self-advocates and allies to make our voices heard. Members of the IACC are very interested in hearing from individuals on the autism spectrum. They’ve heard  extensively from the anti-vaccine crowd, from parents, experts, researchers, and from people on the autism spectrum.

More input from autistic adults at this point, when the IACC is coming close to finalizing a budget and mission statement for the Strategic Plan, will mean more attention to the issues we consider to be most important.

The focus of this particular RFI on services and supports is an area that many autistic adults have much to say about; here is a chance to say it directly to the committee that will be allocating resources to various areas. Currently, funding is skewed toward genetic research and research into treatments and interventions.

In the time that autistic individuals have been submitting comments and testifying at IACC meetings, some positive change has been noted in the amount of funds earmarked for research into services and supports.

It is important that the IACC hear from everyone who is able to comment because part of the task of assessing importance is to determine the extent of the population that has an interest in the decisions that the IACC will make.

The IACC decides levels of funding for research into supports and services, but does not fund supports and services themselves.

TALKING POINTS

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has developed these talking points to assist individuals in writing statements to IACC on the topic of supports and services.

The RFI lists a number of areas of concern that can be addressed. You do not have to address every topic. You can pick the ones that are the most important to you. Feel free to change the wording so that it reflects your most important priorities.

Education:

Studies need to be undertaken that assess current levels of supports and services within the public education system. When treatments and interventions that look promising are developed, additional funding must be appropriated to address implementation so that teachers, students, parents, and other education professionals are up-to-date and have access to information, training, technological resources such as AAC, and other resources.

Health and medical services (including dental):

Access to health and medical services, particularly for adults on the autism spectrum, is of paramount importance for research funding. Current studies that focus on diagnosis and treatment of children do not address the very real need for healthcare access for autistic adults who may not have insurance, may have communication difficulties and other difficulties that prevent them from obtaining adequate care. Education of health care professionals so that they can interact knowledgeable with autistic patients/clients is one area for research into services and supports.

Housing:

Research into housing alternatives, following ideas such as those in the Community Choice Act and Money Follows the Person projects, should be undertaken. Warehousing of individuals in residential centers is undesirable yet often occurs because infrastructure for other types of housing is unavailable or underutilized. Research needs to include cost-effectiveness measures, some of which are already available, which show that housing in the community costs less than residential living.

Transitions:

Research into the most effective transition options needs to be undertaken. Parents and young adults on the spectrum often have nowhere to turn after they age out of the school environment. A clearinghouse of options should be researched and developed so that families will have resources already in place.

Employment:

Research into employment options and opportunities for people on the autism spectrum needs to include components such as accommodations, training, and career counseling. Research in other areas such as treatment, interventions, diagnosis, and genetic research, can be used to counter stereotypes of what an individual on the spectrum can do for employment. Resources for trainers, counselors, employers, and others need to be developed so that autistic people are not discriminated against in the employment world because of stereotypes and misunderstanding. The IACC and NIMH can set the tone for accurate information that can help employers assess individual strengths and weaknesses rather than relying on discriminatory assumptions.

Community inclusion:

Full inclusion in the community needs to be examined and research initiatives should focus on this very important aspect of adult life, and life for children who will grow into adulthood. Community-based participatory research should be implemented that will accurately reflect the actual needs of the autistic teen and adult population.

Safety:

Research into areas that can improve safety for autistic people, throughout the lifespan, and in different situations, needs to be undertaken. Areas to focus on are keeping people on the autism spectrum safe if they have a tendency to wander, or do not understand dangerous situations. Education of parents, professionals, first responders, and autistic people should be undertaken, and the best methods for ensuring safety should be addressed by research in this area. Sometimes autistic people can appear unusual in behavior, which will attract attention from law enforcement and other personnel. Training for professionals in aspects of autistic behavior that might not be understood is a crucial area to address in order to promote the safety of all.

Older adults:

Many older adults remain undiagnosed. Some have no health insurance. Some are living in poverty or are homeless. Many older autistic adults will need medication, including medication for health problems. Research into how to best reach out to older adults who may not have an autism diagnosis but may present as in need of services should be undertaken. Research into the effect of common medications, including for non-autistic-related health problems such as diabetes, should be undertaken. Because of the possibility of extrapyramidal or paradoxical drug reactions, and the general effect of certain drugs on older people, cases should be documented so that any adverse pattern of reaction can be established. Housing, health care, dental care, and community inclusion should all be addressed and tailored to the older autistic population. Community-based participatory research can be invaluable in determining the best ways to access health and other care.

Finances:

Across the lifespan, autistic children and their families, autistic adults and elders will have various financial needs. Research into how to help families and individuals on the spectrum cover the costs associated with treatments and interventions, and a clearinghouse for resources should be developed. In addition, financial resources for autistic adults who have difficulty with financial concepts should be researched and implemented.

Guardianship:

Research into the best ways to establish guardianship should be undertaken, including autistic adults as full participants in the research process in order to establish the most ethical procedures for guardianship. Guardianship should be tailored to the needs of the individual rather than being a one-size-fits-all category, since some individuals will need guardianship in limited areas, but not all aspects of their lives.

Estate planning:

Families with autistic individuals need to take extra precautions in planning an estate, especially for individuals who may need ongoing care throughout life. Autistic adults also may need assistance with estate planning. Research leading to the development of estate planning tools that can assist families and autistic individuals in making sound decisions should be initiated.

Better dead than autistic

15 Sep

This is Heidi Roger who is the Treasurer and a founding member of SafeMinds.

Heidi is a firm, firm believer that vaccines cause autism. No shock seeing as she’s a member of SafeMinds.

What is a shock though is her attitude to human life. In an online debate regarding the book Autism’s False Prophets Rogers made the following astounding claim:

…AUTISM is no joke, it is not “oh well” so their kid will work at McDonalds instead of Trump tower, it is a nightmare without end, it is post traumatic stress disorder every day, it is not better than measles, mumps or rubella and maybe even not better than polio.

That’s right, autism is worse than Polio which can leave some kids needing an iron lung is better than autism.

Measles which has left two teenagers in the UK dead in the last two years and still kills hudreds of thousands worldwide is better than autism.

I beg to differ. Its my opinion that my autistic child is in a much better place than some poor child in an iron lung.

But then, later on, Roger topped even this heartless statement with one so heartless and chilling it made me catch my breath:

Death may be better than autism in some cases….

Is that an official position of SafeMinds I wonder? That death ‘may’ be better than autism. If anyone has any doubts about why I and others feel it necessary to devote so much time blogging against these peoples beliefs you have it encapsulated right there. Death is not better than autism.

On the homepage of this site is a pink ribbon. If you click on that ribbon you will see some photos of Katie McCarron. Katie was murdered by her mother. Her mothers defence was that death was better than autism.

Katie’s family didn’t feel that way. Her Dad, her grandma and her grandpa didn’t feel that way. I have had the pleasure of meeting her dad and grandpa and I know that they loved Katie just as she was and that what was done to Katie was a violation. To even discuss the idea that death is better than autism is a violation. How someone who is parent to an autistic child can even suggest that death is better than autism is quite frankly beyond me.

Surpise! Some people don't like Autism's False Prophets

13 Sep

There is some lively discussion amongst people who don’t like Paul Offit’s, “Autism’s False Prophets“. Many of the complaints are from people who haven’t read the book. But, hey, we can all admit that just given the title and the author, many people can accurately assess that they wouldn’t like the book.

I found Mr. Olmsted’s “review” interesting.

Kim Stagliano has given some advice in the comments:

Easy – sit at Barnes and Noble, browse a copy while you sip a latte (oopsie! don’t spill!) and then when you return the book to the shelf, tuck in a copy of Dan’s review…. And return it to the shelf labeled, “Eastern Aborginal Snail Mating Habits in the 15th Century.” Five years down the road, go back and give it a good dusting…

This is the face of vaccine-oriented autism advocacy in America.

Well, should I find a defaced copy in my bookstores, I can tell you what I’ll do: go to the front desk and see if I can purchase it at a deeply discounted rate. Then, I’ll forward the book, with a copy of that blog post and some of the comments highlighted, to someone involved with autism policy in the U.S. government. With a nice cover letter, of course. I’ll point out that, yes, I am one of the parents who are angry at the vaccine-activists co-opting the autism agenda. I’ll also point out who Ms. Stagliano is in relationship to AoA/Generation rescue. I’ll ask, “is this the sort of representation we need on a Secretarial Level autism advisory board to the secretary of HHS?”

Personally, I’m not waiting to possibly find a defaced copy. I’m sending a few copies out to some people in government.

You can too. Amazon.com (and other booksellers) allow you to send books to people other than yourselves. You can look up the address for your representative or senator online.

Consider putting “attention legislative analyst for healthcare” and follow up with an email (you can contact your Senators and Representative via their webpages). Feeling a little tight on cash? Send an email and ask your legislators to get the book for themselves and their healthcare legislative analyst.

There are, of course, many other people influential inside and outside of government who could use a copy of Autism’s False Prophets, so you don’t have to feel limited to the Congress and Senate.

It doesn’t hurt to check before sending: He/she may have already read it!

And, yes, I will remember this idea when the new government takes office in early 2009.

LB/RB and Neurodiversity.com nominated

12 Sep

We’ve both been nominated (by me, hehe) for some blog awards. They might sound trivial but unlike a lot of blog awards that seem to circulate almost daily, these carry some weight.

This blog has been nominated in the ‘Health’ category – Please vote for us if you have enjoyed or found anything useful on LB/RB over the past year. Annoyingly, it seems you have to register to vote, but please make the effort as it will help us reach new people.

Kathleen’s now (in?)famous blog has been nominated in two sections. ‘The Blogitzer – which is the blogging equivalent of the Pulitzer and Best Blog of all time, both categories it fully deserves to win in.

So – please support both of us in our efforts. Thanks!

Do you Tweet?

11 Sep

If you just asked yourself ‘Tweet? What the hell is he talking about’? then you may not. If you know exactly what I mean then this is for you 🙂

Left Brain/Right Brain now has a Twitter account which some of the authors that blog on LB/RB have access to and which will be used to post updates to the site, notify people of new LB/RB blog posts, notify people of interesting sites/stories we’ve found and want to share with you.

For those who aren’t familiar with Twitter, its what is known as micro-blogging. A user has 140 characters in which to make a post. I have my own personal Twitter account but I wanted to make a dedicated LB/RB account for the purposes described above.

You can track Twitter accounts by becoming a ‘follower’ (you can see the people I ‘follow’ at the bottom right column of my Twitter home page) and subscribing to the dedicated RSS feed or by checking the Home page every so often – or by using a desktop solution such as Twhirl, or via a Firefox extension like TwitKit. Obviously, you need to join Twitter in order to either follow others tweets (a message posted to Twitter is called a tweet) or post tweets yourself.

So, join up, or start following LB/RB!

Arthur Allen – vaccine skeptics vs your kids

11 Sep

Whilst, I’m not sure that the people Arthur is writing about are skeptics as I understand the term (having a scientifically valid basis for not accepting an argument or position), I know what he means. And he’s right that it is this group of people vs the health of people everywhere.

The sub-header is even more accurate ‘immune to reason’. One only has to take a look over at the recent rantings on a certain blog we all know about where the latest themes are:

1) Presidential candidate Barack Obama is now a big pharma shill because he told one of them: “I am not for selective vaccination, I believe that it will bring back deadly diseases, like polio.”.

2) The latest study in a long line of studies that show once more there is no link between MMR and autism is both flawed and exonerates one of their heroes.

3) Kathleen Seidel is wrong because….uh….well, no one knows why but she must be. Apparently.

Immune to reason indeed.

As Arthur points out, there is a great deal at stake:

…in the last trimester of her pregnancy, Helena Moran caught a cough that she couldn’t get rid of. She figured she’d picked up the germ—whatever it was—from one of her patients at a Boulder dentist’s office. But the real nightmare began after her daughter, Evelina, was born: The baby began to cough and cough, and then she’d curl up in a little ball and turn blue. At the emergency room, she was diagnosed with whooping cough. She spent the next five weeks in intensive care and suffered permanent lung damage.

Now, this isn’t *all* the fault of the so-called autism community, but as I’ve discussed before, I’m ashamed to say that a lot of it is.

….the movement got a huge boost from the controversy over the mercury-laden preservative thimerosal, which some theorized might be linked to autism. That link has been disproven—by, if nothing else, the fact that autism rates remained steady after pediatricians and public health authorities told manufacturers to stop making thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines in 1999. But the anti-vaccine movement has kept going, finding ever new reasons to distrust immunization.

The are a lot of zealots out there who have fed upon the autism community. A parent who might not believe vaccines case autism listens to horror stories and reads links sent to them from such places of quackery as whale.to who are nothing to do with the autism community but who market their own brand of ridiculousness (the owner of whale.to believes dolphins can manipulate gravity and has the pictures to prove it!) regarding vaccines and the autism parent greedily sucks it down.

Arthur discuss the practice of abusing ‘religious exemption’ by these people:

Right now, in many states, all it takes to get an exemption from vaccine requirements is signing a form. Some, including a group of doctors at Johns Hopkins University, have proposed making it harder—allowing a philosophical exemption only after parents demonstrate a good-faith effort to educate themselves.

But an article I read in yesterdays ‘Edmond Sun’ stated:

….a person “who has reached the age of majority and is mentally competent to do so may justifiably refuse immunizations for himself or herself, but may not impose this refusal on a child, who has no choice in the matter.” Courts have consistently upheld this principle.

That makes sense to me. Who would want to refuse such a simple thing that has no link of any kind to autism?

Arthur closes with the following:

But while questioning authority is healthy, facts are facts. If vaccines really were responsible for autism, it would be too much to ask parents to do the altruistic thing. But more than a dozen studies have failed to discover such a link—and not a single legitimate study has shown that one exists.

He’s spot on. All the celebs and all the money in the world cannot change that simple fact. We need to get past this. Those who believe autism is caused by vaccines need to put up or shut up. They are holding up progress on autism research and causing the health of our societies to suffer.

I urge readers to visit Arthur’s piece and read the comments. The first few demonstrate exactly the sort of mindset Arthur is talking about – the one’s who bring shame on the autism community. They truly are immune to reason.

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