Archive | March, 2011

David Kirby shows he’s been out of the loop

19 Mar

David Kirby is back on the Huffington Post blogging about vaccines and autism in a piece titled CDC to Study Vaccines and Autism.

The CDC move comes one month after the federal government’s leading autism body, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) announced a shift in research priorities toward environmental triggers for autism, which the IACC said could include toxins, biological agents and “adverse events following immunization.”

In case we didn’t read that paragraph, he repeats himself later:

Meanwhile, the IACC has signaled a major shift in research priorities into the causes of autism, moving away from purely genetic studies in favor of investigating the interaction between genes and environmental factors, which it said could include toxins, biological agents and vaccines.

What shift? Funding levels for environmental causation and gene-environment interactions have outpaced funding for purely genetic research for the past few years.

Mr. Kirby, I’d like to say you’d know that if you read LeftBrainRightBrain instead of the blogs and websites which claim to be asking for more research into environmental research. But I have to ask, are you really out of the loop, or does it just make a better story to claim these fake “shifts”?

Here are a few posts you might want to read, Mr. Kirby:

US proposes $154M in new autism research projects

US plan for autism research: focus on environmental causation re-emphasized

Here’s one from over a year ago:

IACC calls for $175 million in autism and the environment research

Is his post a misconception because he’s been out of the loop on another book project? No. Here’s Mr. Kirby’s introductory paragraph:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants to study autism as a possible clinical outcome of immunization, as part of its newly adopted 5-year research agenda for vaccine safety, the agency said on its website.

Take a look at the CDC research agenda that Mr. Kirby links to. It includes:

In 2004, the IOM concluded that the evidence “favors rejection of a causal relationship” between MMR vaccine and autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism (IOM, 2004).
• VSD has completed a thimerosal and autism case-control study. The chief goal was to determine if exposure to thimerosal in infancy (through 7 months of age) or in-utero is related to development of autism. A secondary objective was to evaluate whether exposure to thimerosal in infancy is related to a subclass of autism predominately associated with regression. The manuscript Prenatal and Infant Exposure to Thimerosal From Vaccines and Immunoglobulins and Risk of Autism (Pediatrics) by Price CS et al. showed that prenatal and early-life exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines and immunoglobulin preparations was not related to increased risk for Autistic Spectrum Disorders (Price CS et al, Pediatrics 2010).
• CDC funded a study in Italy comparing children who previously received thimerosal-containing or non-thimerosal-containing DTaP vaccines (Tozzi AE, 2009).
• A VSD study was completed on early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 years (Thompson WW et al, 2007). Another study using the public dataset was published (Smith MJ, WoodsCR. Pediatrics 2010).

So, the CDC has already been studying autism as a possible outcome of vaccines. In fact, they’ve already completed it and published it: “VSD has completed a thimerosal and autism case-control study.”

And let’s not forget all the other studies of the past 10 years on MMR, and those on thimerosal. We won’t. Apparently David Kirby has. It’s “new” that the CDC would consider vaccines and autism.

And, noting that the IACC federal autism panel “suggested several studies including vaccinated versus unvaccinated children to determine if there are differences in health outcomes,” the CDC said it will convene an “external expert committee to offer guidance on the feasibility of conducting such studies and additional studies related to the immunization schedule, including studies that may indicate if multiple vaccinations increase risk for immune system disorders.”

Germany has already done one of those studies. Kev discussed it here on LeftBrainRightBrain just recently as Vaccinated Children Not at Higher Risk of Infections or Allergic Diseases, Study Suggests. The results were that people are better off vaccinated. Fewer infectious disease. No increased risk of asthma or other problems (the study size, with about 18,000 people, was too small to study autism).

Sorry if I appear to have little patience for David Kirby. It’s true. I don’t have much patience for him. He’s framed his piece in a manner which misleads. And he has no excuse.

Perusing the IRS form 990’s for some autism organizations

18 Mar

How big are more outspoken autism organizations? How much do they support research? How much do they pay their executives? This became a big question about a year ago when it became public how much Autism Speaks pays their top people. Since the 2009 form 990 (IRS forms from non-profit organizations) are now public, I thought I’d take a quick look at some of the organizations out there. More importantly, we are in a tough financial time and charities get hit hard in recessions.

Autism Speaks

revenue: $45.5M down from $66.4M
Expenses: $43.6M down from $73.1M
Assets: $10.8M up from 8.9M

30 people listed as officers/directors.
14 people listed with salaries >$100k

Total salaries paid–$16.5M

Program services expenses:
$17,362,551 in research
$10,238,612 in awareness
$814,016 grants to families
$2,276,703 in other program service expenses

ratio of salary to program service expenses $16.5M/$30.7M=0.53

For those who want to know, Geraldine Dawson’s salary is $409,382. Very high, but also not as high as was reported last year. The previous year included many one-time expenses involved with her move to Autism Speaks.

Generation Rescue:

revenue: $641K down from $1,190k
expenses: $843k up from $745K
net assets $213k down from $445k

Salaries:
Stan Kurtz is now listed as “former” president. Salary: $129,167
Candace MacDonald: $100,000 in salary. Listed as president.

They spend about $19k on their website/year
biggest single expense (other than salary) is marketing, at $169k.

they list an expense of $729,340 for “GENERATION RESCUE PROVIDES EDUCATION, MEDICAL ASSISTANCE AND TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS, DIRECTLY IMPROVING THE CHILD’S QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL FAMILIES IN NEED”

They spent $23k on research.

ratio of salary to program expenses: 364,686/729,340=0.50

The ratio of salary to program expenses is basically the same as for Autism Speaks.

National Autism Association (NAA)

revenue: $542K down from $595k
expenses: $696k up from $570K
net assets: $62K down from $216

no salaries for organization officers listed

15 people listed as officers/etc. (including Katie Wright, Dierdre Imus)

expenses:
$434k in “building a solid foundation” for the NAA. Public awareness, etc.
$75k in crisis support–direct support to families in case of disasters, deaths, etc.

ratio of salary to program service expenses: 134,511/509,232=0.26

The ratio of salary to program services is much lower than for Generation Rescue or Autism Speaks.

SafeMinds

revenue: $196K down from $24k
expenses: $126k down from $179K
net assets: $187K up from $117k

no salaries for organization officers listed
14 people listed as officers/members

Expenses
$41K in research
$31k in website/PR
$23k for conferences
$15k to the Age of Autism
$29k to Thoughtful house

ratio of salary to program service expenses: 0/96,016=0.0

This is the only group with a zero ratio.

TACA (Talk About Curing Autism)

revenue: $841K up from $780k
expenses: $912k up from $847k
net assets: $477K down from $532k

4 people listed as board members/etc
One compensated, at $44k/year

expenses
$349,565. Meetings/conferences/seminars for parent education
$135,753. Print and electronic publications
$99,472. direct financial support to families

ratio of salary to program service expenses: 320,442/586,12 4=0.55

This is similar to Autism Speaks and Generation Rescue.

Checking a few figures.

First, it was claimed a while back that the National Autism Association had thousands of dues paying members. The lowest dues level for the NAA is $35/year. The amount of dues collected was $12,465. This suggests a maximum of 356 dues paying members.

Second, the $15k payment to the Age of Autism intrigued me. Age of Autism portrays itself as an autism organization in advocacy efforts. They are not, however, a charitable organization. The Age of Autism is a limited liability corporation registered to Dan Olmsted. Because of this, financial records are not public. But we can attempt an estimate with public information:

Age of Autism has 4 sponsors listed on their website. (SafeMinds, Generation Rescue, the National Autism Association and TACA). Assuming that all 4 are paying $15k per year, this would mean $60k/year from sponsors. In addition, they received advertising revenue. A link on the top of the Age of Autism blog takes you to where you can see advertising rates. AoA has two types of ads, leaderboard ads (at $10/day) and sidebar ads (varying from $25/week with no image to $250/week for a large ad with picture). They have no leaderboard right now, but 6 sidebar ads. Using an estimate average of $210/week based on the sizes I see (and the fact that this divides easily by 7), that gives $30/day per sidebar. I am assuming that the ads for the books are gratis. If they fill the leaderboard ad, AoA could be getting $190/day from advertisements. 365 days of that gives $69,350. Together with sponsorship, the Age of Autism is bringing in an estimated $129,350 a year. They have to pay for hosting, but they also get donations. They do not specify how the money is distributed.

Minneapolis reports three more measles cases

18 Mar

In Minneapolis reports three more measles cases, the Minneapolis Star Tribune discusses, well, three more measles cases in the city. Why bring this up here?

Three more children under the age of five have developed cases of measles in Minneapolis, state health officials reported Thursday, including two Somali children who were not vaccinated because of fears about the vaccine safety.

Four children have been infected. Three were hospitalized. At least two unvaccinated out of fear.

Three more children under the age of five have developed cases of measles in Minneapolis, state health officials reported Thursday, including two Somali children who were not vaccinated because of fears about the vaccine safety.

Officials said that the vaccination rate has dropped in Minnesota’s Somali community, largely because of misconceptions about the vaccine safety. Concerns about a possible link between the vaccine and autism have spread in the Somali community, as well as other communities, in spite of medical reports debunking the connection.

“Contrary to misinformation that may still be circulating, the measles vaccine is safe and effective,” said Dr. Edward Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health. “Without it, the risk of disease is real. Children can die from measles.”

The previous case, reported March 5, involved a child under a year old who was too young to be vaccinated. Officials said they did not know whether the fourth child had been vaccinated.

I can already write the responses:
“Better measles than autism” (as though this were a real choice. MMR doesn’t increase the risk of autism)
“If they offered a safe measles vaccine, this wouldn’t have happened” (as though the MMR causes autism, making it “unsafe”)
“look at all the reports in VAERS of death/injury/etc” (as though every report in VAERS is an event caused by vaccines)
“but vaccines don’t work anyway”

I could go on with the responses, but why? They are as obvious as they are lame.

(edit to add–I missed on obvious one that has already been made: “4 cases=outbreak?”. That one just boggles the mind. How many should there be before we take action? If these were demonstrated cases of vaccines causing autism, the answer would be no more. But, hey, it’s just a life-threatening disease in children, one under a year old. I guess that “immature immune system” we hear vaccine skeptics claim is just fine at fighting a full on infection. Just not a vaccine.)

The Roots of the Vaccine Panic

17 Mar

Peter Bearman reviews both The Panic Virus and Deadly Choices at The American Prospect. In The Roots of the Vaccine Panic Prof. Bearman

Prof. Bearman has published a number of papers analyzing the data from the California Department of Developmental Services. His group has so far accounted for about 50% of the increase in the autism counts in that state. So, this is a guy who has taken a long hard look at the very data many have used to claim vaccines cause autism.

Do vaccines cause autism or other neuro-developmental disorders? Scientists know that vaccines don’t, but the idea lingers everywhere — on talk shows and blogs and in conversations between parents and their child’s pediatrician. It lingers because many people in this country and elsewhere think that vaccines just might not be good for us.

He does refer to Panic Virus as “a bit breathless for my taste”, but in general the critiques are favorable of the books. Prof. Bearman refers to autistic regression as “the descent into autism” which I am sure will make some readers here cringe.

One quote from Prof. Bearman that I would particularly call out is this:

Science needs to speak with a stronger voice to overcome both the assault on reason of anti-science crusaders and the indifference to reason of journalists who train the public to believe that every issue has two sides.

I think this says a lot about the two books and, more importantly, how we got into a place where good science is denied, bad science is promoted and a vaccine-induced-autism-epidemic survives as an idea long after it was disproven.

Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and MRI Reveal No Evidence for Brain Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

16 Mar

A study published today looks for mitochondrial dysfunction in autistic children. In specific, the researchers are looking directly at the brains of autistic children. The team, from the University of Washington, used both MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscropic imaging (HRMS). MRI gives structural information on soft tissues. HMRS is a “spectroscopic” techinque: it gives chemical information on
Here’s a good reference with a discussion of HMRS on brain tissue (as a spectroscopy, not an imaging technique): Quantitative neuropathology by high resolution magic angle spinning proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

With that background in hand, here is the abstract from the recent study on autism:

Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and MRI Reveal No Evidence for Brain Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Corrigan NM, Shaw DW, Richards TL, Estes AM, Friedman SD, Petropoulos H, Artru AA, Dager SR.

Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Abstract

Brain mitochondrial dysfunction has been proposed as an etiologic factor in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ((1)HMRS) and MRI were used to assess for evidence of brain mitochondrial dysfunction in longitudinal samples of children with ASD or developmental delay (DD), and cross-sectionally in typically developing (TD) children at 3-4, 6-7 and 9-10 years-of-age. A total of 239 studies from 130 unique participants (54ASD, 22DD, 54TD) were acquired. (1)HMRS and MRI revealed no evidence for brain mitochondrial dysfunction in the children with ASD. Findings do not support a substantive role for brain mitochondrial abnormalities in the etiology or symptom expression of ASD, nor the widespread use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment that has been advocated on the basis of this proposed relationship.

Does this mean that mitochondrial dysfunction never occurs in autistics? No. But it makes it very unlikely that more than a fraction of autistics have mitochondrial dysfunction in their brains.

Beyond that, the use of spectroscopic imaging is very impressive to me. MRI structural data is quite valuable on its own, but adding chemical information is very powerful.

The Urgent Next Step in the Fight to Save the Lanterman Act

16 Mar

The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy of California have put out an urgent action alert for residents of California. And by urgent they mean now. Their is a meeting at 1pm that they want to impact (<5 hours from when this was published).

Dear Friends,

Our community’s overwhelming turnout in the Capitol and numerous calls and visits to legislators, asking them to save the Lanterman Act, paid off. The Legislature so far has rejected most of the developmental services service cuts that the Brown administration proposed.

But the fight continues. We need your advocacy again — this morning.

Here’s where we stand. The Legislature’s budget committees, with both Democrats and Republicans voting for us, reduced the size of the cut to community services for people with developmental disabilities by $386 million. But that leaves $147 million in cuts that have to come from someplace.

The administration wants the $147 million to come from purchase-of-service “standards,” or “best practices” as the Legislature has started calling them. Either way sound good, but what they really mean is that arbitrary limits and not IPPs and IFSPs would determine what services people with disabilities receive.

The Legislature is set to meet at 1 p.m. today to vote on the state budget and bills to cut spending to balance the budget. One of the bills, AB 98, would direct the administration (specially, the Department of Developmental Services) to develop “best practices” and recommend them to the Legislature by May 15. There are two calls I’m asking you to make before then help head off that threat — one to each of you two local state legislators, your state senator and assembly member.

If you don’t know who they are, go to http://capwiz.com/thearc/state/main/?state=CA&view=myofficials , enter your ZIP code, scroll down to “state senators” and “state representatives,” and click on their names.

If you already have talked to staff members in your legislators’ local or Capitol offices, call those staff members again. Otherwise, call their Capitol offices.

Here is what you might say to each of them

1. Ask to talk to someone about the development services budget.
2. Write down the staff member’s name.
3. Introduce yourself, give them you address, and tell them why you care. For example, if you’re the parent of someone with a developmental disability, say so.
4. Tell them that you are against Section 1 of Assembly Bill 98, the developmental services budget “trailer bill” (they’ll know what that means). That’s the section about “best practices.” Ask that the legislator try to get it removed from the bill.
5. Even more important, whether or not Section 1 stays in the bill, ask the legislator to make a statement when the bill comes up for discussion today. Ask that the legislator say, when the Department of Developmental Services presents its recommendations for “best practices to the Legislature on May 15, the Legislature should consider the community organizations’ alternatives for ways to make savings in the budget while doing less damage that the administration’s recommendations would do. The idea is serve notice now that the Legislature will consider our community’s recommendations equally with the administration’s.

I know this is complicated. I wish I could make it simpler. I think that, if you stick to the five things I’ve suggested, your legislators will get the message. God knows we’re been working hard enough here in Sacramento to get it to them since the Assembly Bill 98 came out yesterday.

If you want to read the bill for yourself, go to www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0051-0100/ab_98_bill_20110314_amended_sen_v98.html . Section 1 starts on page 5.

Thank you for your advocacy.

Greg

Greg deGiere
Public Policy Director
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in California
1225 Eighth Street, Suite 350
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-552-6619, ext. 16
916-223-7319 (mobile)
916-441-3494 (fax)

Legislator Who Suggested Siberia For ‘Retarded’ Resigns

15 Mar

Legislator Who Suggested Siberia For ‘Retarded’ Resigns is a piece on Disability Scoop. Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. Here’s a quote:

Rep. Martin Harty, a 91-year-old first-term Republican in the state’s House of Representatives, drew fire after it became public that he told a constituent that “the world is too populated” with “too many defective people.”

“I wish we had a Siberia so we could ship them all off to freeze to death and die and clean up the population,” Harty continued, according to the constituent’s account. He specified that he was referring to “the mentally ill, the retarded, people with physical disabilities and drug addictions.”

Take a read of the piece at Disability Scoop. Then take a few minutes to let your blood stop boiling before commenting here. Reading around for more on this story, I stumbled across these comments on the story from some of our “friends” over at another blog:

What the heck is a 91 year old doing as a ‘state legislator’? He sounds like an incipient Altzheimer’s case!!

and

Maybe the 90 year old lawmaker should step his grumpy ass down, and let someone with better hearing take his place. I hate to put it that way, but this is unacceptable behavior in office. I don’t care WHAT he did in WW2.

Do me a favor. If you want to make fun of this guy by bashing his real or perceived disabilities…don’t.

LeftBrain/RightBrain shame Age of Autism into half-hearted apology for gun violence

14 Mar

Via Facebook of course, not on their actual site:

Funny thing though, I would’ve thought that to be included in an image archive entitled ‘Fan pics _from_ Age of Autism’ it would’ve had to have been approved _by_ Age of Autism..?

Also note the lack of apology for the rampant anti-vaccine part of the image – just the gun violence. Age of Autism fail to see that by promoting an anti-vaccine message they are still condoning violence – just a different kind of violence.

At State-Run Homes, Abuse and Impunity

14 Mar

So reads the title of a very disturbing piece in the New York Times. At State-Run Homes, Abuse and Impunity discusses problems with the group homes in New York.

Nearly 40 years after New York emptied its scandal-ridden warehouses for the developmentally disabled, the far-flung network of small group homes that replaced them operates with scant oversight and few consequences for employees who abuse the vulnerable population.

Not only is there abuse, but perpetrators are often not charged.

A New York Times investigation over the past year has found widespread problems in the more than 2,000 state-run homes. In hundreds of cases reviewed by The Times, employees who sexually abused, beat or taunted residents were rarely fired, even after repeated offenses, and in many cases, were simply transferred to other group homes run by the state.

Sounds like the stories of abuse by Priests in the Catholic Church in a way, doesn’t it? Abuser is uncovered and moved rather than fired or prosecuted.

The Times puts a good share of the blame for protecting the perpretrators on the uniion:

The state initiated termination proceedings in 129 of the cases reviewed but succeeded in just 30 of them, in large part because the workers’ union, the Civil Service Employees Association, aggressively resisted firings in almost every case. A few employees resigned, even though the state sought only suspensions.

The story is fairly long, and very saddening to say the least. While a difficult read, it is an important one.

Age of Autism threaten doctors and also make clear how anti-vaccine they are

12 Mar

On a Facebook page entitled ‘Fan photos from Age of Autism‘ you will find this (click for bigger):

Lets not kid around here, this is a direct threat of violence towards people carrying ‘syringes’ i.e. people who might want to vaccinate children. I have no idea if Jenny McCarthy has any knowledge of this photo but its clear from the title ‘fan photos _from_ the Age of Autism, that Age of Autism clearly do.

Lets also be clear about the utterly anti-vaccine message of this image. The editors continually describe themselves as ‘pro-vaccine safety’. Let me suggest to them that creating a picture of Jenny McCarthy threatening people carrying syringes in a medical setting isn’t pro-vaccine safety. Its anti-vaccine pure and simple.

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