Autism Blog - Nature Fubar « Left Brain/Right Brain

13 May 2010

Author: Kev
Comments: 8

Nature Fubar

Nature, the usually reputable Science magazine have launched a Scitable Autism section and with it screwed up their usual impeccable attention to detail.

Who for example thought it necessary to put:

Determining the cause of — and the cure for — autism is crucial for our society

I wonder. And who thought it necessary to link to no less than three anti-vaccine links on the home page of this….blog? Wiki? Two links to Autism Speaks whose controllers recently attended a DAN! conference and one link to ARI itself.

Its a ridiculous and desperately sad state of affairs when even Nature, that bastion of good science resorts to scaremongering about autism and promoting an anti-vaccine viewpoint.

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Comments

8 Responses to “Nature Fubar”

lilandtedsmum
May 13th, 2010
17:37:51

It’s the medication link that terrifies me. Anti-psychotic drugs? I’ve never heard anyone say that psychosis is a symptom of ASD. I also don’t understand why stimulants would be given. If anyone could enlighten me I would appreciate it.

I understand that there are some who are on the spectrum who will also have other conditions that DO require treatments with some of these drugs but does that make these conditions a symptom of ASD? If a person on the spectrum is depressed then it’s right that they be treated, but list the drug as a treatment for depression – not as a treatment of ASD.

I have visions of children being doped up with Quetiapine (anti-psychotic) as their parents find their autistic behaviour difficult to deal with….I am glad that here in the UK we don’t seem so keen to offer drugs as the solution. If my daughter is displaying challenging behavioural issues, I have spoken to her psychiatrist and looked at other strategies. Never has any member of her team suggested drugs as a way forward and I have to say I’m relieved.
Tweets that mention Autism Blog - Nature Fubar « Left Brain/Right Brain -- Topsy.com
May 13th, 2010
17:50:41

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kev. Kev said: Nature Fubar: Nature, the usually reputable Science magazine have launched a Scitable Autism section … http://bit.ly/9cyVcq [...]
brian
May 13th, 2010
19:48:31

The link titled “Explaining the rise in reported cases” leads to Thoughtful House. Oops.
Nature promote junk autism science « Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science
May 14th, 2010
02:12:14

[...] has previously been a fairly good example of accessible online science information. However, as Kev has noted, Nature’s autism Scitable is well below their usual standard: who thought it necessary to [...]
Nature promote bad autism science « Holford Watch: Patrick Holford, nutritionism and bad science
May 14th, 2010
18:27:09

[...] also links to Thoughtful House (the US autism clinic where Wakefield was based) when “Explaining the [...]
JonHW
May 15th, 2010
17:28:31

The Scitable seems to have removed the offending links now.
Liz Ditz
May 15th, 2010
21:57:04

As Holford Watch notes,

Looks like there’s been some fixing going on.

The “Facts about autism” link now goes to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

The “How is Autism Diagnosed” link now goes to the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities page on autism.

The “What are Autism Spectrum Disorders” link now goes to the National Institute of Mental Health’s page on autism

No links to Thoughtful House or ARI that I spotted.
Autism and ipad
February 2nd, 2012
04:20:45

A good autistic little one could be a concern for folks, but they discovered with regards to autism in children and also realize those challenges. The actual neighbour, grandma and grandpa, and …autism