Left Brain Right Brain

Alongside the main players on the Evidence of Harm mail list such as Lujene Clarke and Lenny Schafer are starting to appear some truly fascinating people. It really is becoming quite an education watching this list descend into a fever pit of conspiracy theory, suspicion, paranoia, quasi-religious (and out-and-out religious) hysteria and ravings.

A sure sign of how strong one’s argument is is the quality of its support. In this respect, the EoH list is in increasingly bad shape. Alongside J.B Handley and the illogical Lujene Clarke who believes you can contract Aspergers at age 8 and upwards are some real off-the-wall whackos:

Herman Hugh Fudenberg, M.D.

Fudenberg, who has posted several times on the EoH list is possibly the most tainted supporter EoH/Mercury/Thimerosal has.

In November 1995, the South Carolina medical board found Fudenberg “guilty of engaging in dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct,” fined him $10,000, ordered him to surrender his license to prescribe controlled substances (narcotic drugs), and placed his license on indefinite suspension. The Board’s order, shown below, said that he could apply for probationary status if he underwent a neuropsychiatric examination and was judged capable of practicing medicine safely. In March 1996, he was permitted to resume practice under terms of probation that did not permit him to prescribe any drugs. His license expired in January 2004; and in March 2004, he applied to have it reinstated. However, after a hearing in which the Board considered a neuropsychatric report issued in 2003, Fudenberg agreed to remain in a “retired” status and withdrew his application for reactivation of his license. The South Carolina board’s Web site lists his license as “lapsed.”

Casewatch.

Fudenberg is a big mate of Andrew Wakefield:

Andrew Wakefield had filed patent claims for a vaccine and a possible cure for autism, based on a fringe theory of “transfer factors”. His collaborator and “co-inventor” was Hugh Fudenberg, who claimed in a 2004 interview with Brian Deer to cure autistic children with his own bone marrow.

Brian Deer.

There are, of course, plenty of genuinely disturbing kooks on the EoH list. Lenny Schafer, for example who doesn’t care if he’s right or wrong – its become a political battle for him:

The message here is that the autism-mercury cabal is committed to winning – even if they are wrong! They have clearly abandoned any pretense of scientific inquiry and are striving for a political solution.

Prometheus.

Everything that the cabal disagrees with is never argued with. Its simply shunted aside by either referring to it as written by ‘autism holocaust deniers’ or ‘Big Pharma’. In this way, unpalatable truths are casually tossed aside. I’d really really like to know how many EoH listers privately go back and read up on this stuff. I know a lot of them read this blog for example (you can deny it but yours and Yahoo’s referrer logs cannot lie my friends) and if you’re one of these people, please try and see the science past your conspiracy theory. I’ve no doubt US (and UK) Pharma companies act badly on occasion but you have moved the goalposts way beyond ‘Big Pharma’ culpability. Ask yourself if you really believe that everyone from your President right down to _and including_ your local family Doctor are all in collusion. Because thats what it would take – the collusion of just about every health care professional in your country – to keep this conspiracy alive.

David Kirby’s superb, even-handed account of the investigation into this ongoing, high-stakes controversy is fascinating and compelling

Bernard Rimland, Autism Research Institute; Autism Society of America

Kirby doesn’t offer his own verdict on the debate…

Polly Maurice, The New York Times Book Review

Walking the middle line, Kirby’s book remains one of the most thoroughly researched accounts of the thimerosal controversy thus far…

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) ***

Evidence of Harm explores both sides of this controversy…

All quotes available on EOH.

So, according to himself, David Kirby is a thorough, impartial, dedicated boy-scout of a reporter. He offers an ‘even handed account’ that ‘doesn’t offer his own verdict’ and which ‘walks the middle line’ and thus explores ‘both sides’ of the controversy.

All these things are what you would expect from a journalist with some amount of ethics – after all, what is journalism that is one sided but fancily spun propaganda? – and so it must be something of a relief to most that such an important issue as the cause of autism is entrusted to such a thorough and ethical journalist.

So it comes as something of a surprise (well, no, it doesn’t really) to find that actually, despite good PR to the contrary, David Kirby is neither ethical nor impartial in his role as a journalist. He is in fact simply a partisan hack.

David Kirby’s website is ‘designed’ (and speaking as a web designer myself I use that phrase in its loosest possible sense) by ‘Wendys Webs‘. Interested to see who had done such an, um, _interesting_ design job on Kirby’s site, I performed a WHOIS on the domain and the owner was revealed as one Wendy A Fournier.

‘Well, so what?’ , I hear you ask. For an answer to that question you’ll need to head on over to the National Autism Association but make sure to use Internet Explorer as whoever (ahem) designed and built their website made it unworkable in Gecko based browsers.

And there on the Listed Directors page you will find Wendy Fournier – the President of the National Autism Association. Lets read her brief biog:

When Wendy’s youngest daughter was diagnosed with autism, doctors gave her little to hope for. She began to research treatment options via the internet. Here she discovered that there is indeed a great deal of hope. Hope comes in the form of biomedical treatments, therapies, enlightened medical professionals, a few brave politicians and an amazing group of parents around the world who are fighting for their children.

Aha, biomedical treatments, therapies, enlightened medics and brave politicos. Sound familiar at all? These are all code for ‘mercury causes autism’. Here’s how impartial Wendy Fournier is:

Wendy Fournier (Portsmouth, RI), parent and president of NAA, asks [referring to Mercury/Thimerosal], “Why would Shih, Johnson or any parent deliberately give their child a substance that’s label contains a Jolly-Roger symbol?”

Yahoo.

…according to Aventis, removal of Thimerosal from the flu shots may present vaccine shortages and a higher risk for a flu outbreak. Parent Wendy Fournier says when you look at all the information, you quickly realize it’s a weak excuse. “They’ve had years to create mercury-free batches. Thimerosal is cheap — that’s why they want it in there,” she says.

Royalrife

So, David Kirby’s (who offers an ‘even handed account’ that ‘doesn’t offer his own verdict’ and which ‘walks the middle line’ and thus explores ‘both sides’ of the controversy remember) website is designed and built by someone who blames mercury for autism. How very impartial your propaganda is turning out to be Mr Kirby.

I’m also aware that at some point in the past the domain evidenceofharm.com was listed as being owned by SafeMinds. These details have been changed now but it is another nail in the coffin of Kirby’s impartiality. I wonder how much he was paid by Safeminds for his propaganda and I wonder how much of that came from charitable contributions?

David Kirby unveils the extent of his evidence that mercury causes autism and presents it in the ever eager to please Schafer Autism Report.

Very recent studies, presented by top university researchers at major autism conferences or published in respected, peer-reviewed journals, have reported the following findings possibly supporting a link between mercury and autism. Some of this work has been derided by the CDC as ‘junk science’ conducted by ‘charlatans’.

So lets get rid of the dross and spin first. “major autism conferences” as a source is frankly, laughable. Not only are they unnamed, they are likely to be run by hysterical parent-led groups. I think its safe to discount these as credible. This leaves us with ‘top university researchers’ publishing in ‘respected, peer-reviewed journals’. Lets also bear in mind that that, by Kirby’s own admission these are ‘findings’ (as oppose to evidence or facts) that ‘possibly’ (as oppose to do) ‘support’ (as oppose to are) a link (as oppose to cause) autism.

So lets write out what Kirby and his motley crew wish they could say here and what they can say:

Kirby Crew: “Autism is mercury poisoning – here is some factual evidence to back that up.”

Reality: “There may be a link to indicate the possibility that some forms of mercury might have some relationship to autistic-like symptoms.”

There is not one shred of evidence that I know of that would prove that mercury poisoning causes autism.

Univeristy Of Washington / National Institutes Of Environmental Health Sciences – Published In Environmental Health Perspectives. In primates, ethylmercury from vaccines (in the form of thimerosal), once it enters the brain, converts to inorganic mercury at two to three times the rate of methylmercury, which is found in fish. Inorganic mercury lacks a natural transport system out of the brain, where it remains for long periods of time, perhaps indefinitely. A previous study by the same team found that inorganic mercury was the main cause of serious changes in brain tissue, including a major expansion of microglial cells (white matter), which is consistent with the finding of “big brains” in autistic children.

Note firstly the lack of a direct quote from the article itself. Once you get past the spin you can only deduce from the above that primates brains changed when you put mercury into them. Apparently this is ‘consistent’ with autistics big brains.

At this point I’d like to reveal the results of my own scientific investigation. Once, I gave an ice cream to a monkey which it promptly ate and shrieked in a monkey-like way in gratitude. As autistic children eat ice cream and occassionaly make strange shrieking noises too I hereby annouce that ice-cream causes autism. Where’s my Nobel prize?

In all seriousness, no one is saying that putting Mercury into kids in elevated quantities is a good thing. Its right there should be limits and maybe even a ban. This is because it can lead to mercury poisoning. Not because it causes autism. There really is a difference.

University Of California – M.I.N.D. Institute – Presented At The 2005 Interational Meeting For Autism Research. Children with autism have a markedly different immune profile from normal kids. They are found to have increased autoimmunity, extremely high levels of certain immune cells and cytokines, and an imbalance of immune cells to antibodies (TH1 vs. TH2 response). ALL of these abnormal conditions appear in the literature on mercury toxicity.

What? How is this evidence? All it shows is that some aspects of some autistics immune profile share some characteristics of mercury toxicity. I don’t know anyone in the field who doesn’t know that autism and mercury poisoning share characteristics. How exactly does this even support a link, let alone offer supporting evidence?

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health – Published In The Journal Pediatrics. The rate of increase in new cases of autism among children born every year in the United States was relatively stable until 1987, when the rate suddenly began to spike, and then continued to rise among children born in each subsequent birth cohort. A second spike in the rate of increase was noted in 1992, a few years after which, the rate began to level off. (It is interesting to note that, between 1987 and 1992, with the introduction of new thimerosal containing vaccines, total mercury exposure from infant immunization went from 75 to nearly 240 micrograms). Meanwhile, the reported incidence of mental retardation and other childhood disorders remained constant, meaning that “diagnostic substitution” was not an explanation for the rise in autism cases.

Demonstrating both a frightening attitude to misinformation and a nice line in arrogance regarding how the US sees itself as the centre of the world. Firstly, what happens in America is relevant to America only. The rest of us don’t see that tally. If Kirby wants to rename his book ‘Evidence of Harm Between the Years 1987-1992 and Only In America’ based on this ‘evidence’ then that might go some way towards addressing his interpretation of data. Still won’t make it any more relevant though. And ‘diagnostic substitution’? What the hell? Is Kirby suggesting that Doctors don’t know the difference betwe autism and mental retardation? Or is this just a really stupid way of trying to persuade people the the autism ‘epidemic’ isn’t better detection and reporting plus an increase in the width of diagnostic criteria? I suspect the latter.

University Of Arkansas – Arkansas Children’s Hospital Published In The Journal Biology. Children with autism have extremely low or depleted levels of sulfur-based bio-chemicals known as thiols (a synonym for thiol is mercaptan, or literally, “mercury capturer,”). The reason is thought to be genetic. Without these substances, such as the protein glutathione, these genetically variant children suffer from oxidative stress, and show a reduced capacity to liminate heavy metals like mercury. Biomedical intervention with a variety of natural substances was shown to elevate thiol levels in study children to normal levels.

Er, OK. So what Kirby seems to be saying here is that if autistics have low levels of thiols they can’t liminate mercury. How that supports the theory of mercury poisoning causing autism is beyond me. This line of argument is almost a living breathing definition of the word ‘circumstantial’. Or ‘crap’.

Columbia University – Published In Molecular Psychology. Mice with a genetic predisposition to autoimmunity showed horrific reactions to thimerosal containing vaccines, compared to mice without the autoimmunity. Sensitive mice showed repetitive and self-injurious behavior, including grooming themselves or their cage mates incessantly, sometimes to the point of death. They also were found to have increased brain size compared to the typical (control) mice exposed to the same vaccine schedule.

I must admit to the odd snigger or two by this point. Is this really what Kirby thinks is ‘supporting evidence’ of mercury as a causative of autism? Tell you what Dave mate – when I see two autistics grooming each other to the point of death then I’ll start to worry.

Here’s what Craig Newschaffer of Johns Hopkins says:

Epidemiologist Craig Newschaffer of Johns Hopkins says that animal experiments such as this are important to determine the physiological effects of exposure to toxic substances. But, he notes, it’s impossible to say with certainty that lab animals exhibiting certain kinds of behavior have autism or that what happens in lab animals translates to people.

Science News.

Of course, the mercury crowd don’t care for logic. How they think you can diagnose a mouse with autism is simply baffling.

Northeastern University – Published In Molecular Psychiatry. Thimerosal, when exposed to cells with certain genetic mutations, can interfere with critical metabolic processes, including something called methylation. Methylation is crucial for proper gene expression and DNA/RNA growth, and for the development of neurotransmitters and essential fatty acids – including myelin – which protect the nerves and brain. Methylation is also needed for the development of sulfur-based thiols (or “mercury capturers”) such as glutathione, and other detoxification functions.

So really, what you’re saying is that if someone doesn’t have these ‘certain genetic mutations’ then Thimerosal can’t harm them? But…but…I thought all the mercury crowd thought there was no genetic basis for autism. Talking to such hysterics as Lujene Clarke gave me the idea that it was either/or with you guys. And even if you do support the idea of a genetic basis – what exactly are these ‘certain genetic mutations’? I can’t help but note no-one says what these mutations actually are. Possibly because they have no bearing on autism?

Here’s what proper scientisits have to say about this study:

The authors conclude that “The potent inhibition of this pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and thimerosal suggests that it may be an important target of neurodevelopmental toxins.” Unfortunately, the authors tacked on the statement that “…vaccine components (i.e. thimerosal and aluminum) may have contributed to the risk of autism, ADHD and other developmental disorders.” We understand the pressures on scientists to justify the relevance of their research and maintain funding of their work but the problem is that sometimes basic research is just basic research and nothing more.

Medicinenet

Next!

University Of Texas – Published In The Journal Health And Place. Mercury released primarily from coal-fired power plants may be contributing to an increase in the number of cases of autism. The study found that autism increased in Texas counties as mercury emissions rose. For every thousand pounds of environmentally released mercury, there was a 61 percent increase in autism rates. The study looked at Texas county-by-county levels of mercury emissions and compared them to the rates of autism and special education services in 1,200 Texas school districts. One county with low mercury emissions but significant autism rates was found to harbor the nation’s largest mercury mine. An author of the study said it shows a potentially “important connection between environmental exposure to mercury and the development of autism.”

61% increase? Funny that, because Professor Palmer himself says

We found that for every 1,000 pounds of mercury released by industry, there was a 17 percent increase in autism,” Palmer tells WebMD.

Please do your research properly. The Professor also says:

Palmer is quick to point out that this kind of study does not prove mercury pollution causes autism. “We show a significant relationship between mercury release into the environment and autism. But that does not prove causation,” Palmer says.

FOX

So, once again. No proof that mercury poisoning either is, or causes, autism. There may be a link but what that link is or even if it exists at all is pure conjecture. In the meantime, what isn’t conjecture is the amount of money Kirby, Generation Rescue et al make from manipulating the emotions of parents into buying hysterical books on the subject and purchasing thousands of dollars worth of chelation ‘therapy’.

I’m merely happy that the more hysterical and easily led of these groups exist mainly in the US and Canada. Thankfully in the UK common sense still seems to largely prevail. Then again, we’ve never been of the opinion that everything difficult can be solved be stamping our feet and showering it with money.

An intriguing development. Checking my referrer logs (in the awesome Awstats) I came across a reference to Yahoo list server about the David Kirby book, ‘Evidence of Harm’. Interested, I followed it back and came across a thread where this post about Generation: Rescue was being discussed. Of course, when I say discussed I mean slagged off and (as you can see from the comments) my abilities as both a parent and a functional human being called into question because I disagreed with GR that autism is mercury poisoning.

I’m not going to link to the list server as I hate Yahoo lists with a passion (they’re incredibly difficult to navigate – why would anyone use a Yahoo maillist when hosting is so cheap and there are loads of free easy to setup forums?) but it shouldn’t be hard to find if you’re minded to look for it. Just go to yahoo Groups and search for Evidence of Harm. You have to join to read by the way.

Anyway, in amongst the vitriol and petty posturing were some valid points that I felt deserved further explanation. I also got a lot of emails asking me to backup and/or justify my position which is fair enough, no-one can make assertions in a vacuum and expect to be taken seriously and I’d rather do it here in one place than carry on using the dreadful, unintuitive Yahoo interface design.

So, to begin, lets start with the reason that I visited the EoH list in the first place. I made a post that stated that GR were wrong to state that autism was mercury poisoning. Lets clarify that a bit further. GR didn’t say some cases of autism were mercury poisoning. They didn’t say that some cases of mercury poisoning had been misdiagnosed as autism, they said – autism was mercury poisoning. Pure and simple, just that.

Now obviously I disagree. But why? And why does it matter so much?

Well I disagree mainly because mercury poisoning isn’t autism, its mercury poisoning. In order for me to disprove GR’s assertion that autism is solely mercury poisoning, all I have to do is prove there’s more than one basis for autism. Thats easy, researchers are certain there is a genetic component to autism:

Because of the clear evidence that idiopathic autism has a strong genetic basis, many groups are undertaking whole genome screens

Two Studies Point to Genetic Basis of Autism, Open Door to Further Research

The findings indicate that autism is under a high degree of genetic control and suggest the involvement of multiple genetic loci.

While the causes of autism still remain a mystery, it has become clear that genetic factors contribute significantly to the occurrence of the disorder.

So, thats pretty clear. Not conclusive whatsoever taken individually but when taken as a whole, the weight of evidence clearly indicates genetics at least plays a part. This is backed up by my own experience – 3 of my close relatives were on the spectrum and I don’t believe in coincedences on that scale.

But lets not forget that GR claim that autism is mercury poisoning. I’ve shown fairly conclusively that mainstream science disagrees with such a black and white interpretation but lets tackle the issue directly – what actually is autism?

…(a) lifelong developmental disability that occurs by itself or in association with other disorders that affect the function of the brain

brain disorder that begins in early childhood and persists throughout adulthood

autism is a complex developmental disability

The term means a developmental disability

(autism)….is (a) disorder which usually appears within the first three years of life

A chronic developmental disorder usually diagnosed between 18 and 30 months of age

Autism is a disorder of brain function that appears early in life, generally before the age of three

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability

A lifelong, nonprogressive neurological disorder

Autism is a form of pervasive developmental disorder with an unknown origin

a developmental disability that can cause problems with communication, social interaction and routine/repetitive behaviors

Autism is a communication and behaviour disorder

Phew, thats enough copying and pasting. All these definitions were found on Google searching for ‘define: autism’. Seems pretty clear to me. Autism is seen by the medical community as a developmental disorder. Not mercury poisoning.

What about the industry heavyweights? In the UK, the main research body is ARC (Autism Research Centre). the President of this organisation being Professor Simon Baron-Cohen:

What do you feel is the reason for the recent dramatic increase of autistic children in the United States? Do thimerosal
(mercury), environmental toxins and genetics play a role in autism?. I know it is not a very popular view, but it is possible that the dramatic increase of children with autism world-wide is due to better diagnosis, better awareness, changing diagnosis, and the growth of services. When I started in this field 20 years ago, there were only about 3 centres in the whole of the UK where one could go to get one’s child diagnosed with autism, from a specialist. Today, there are many clinics in every town that can provide this service. So, we cannot under-estimate the effect of having a lot more well trained clinicians in front-line public health services looking out for children with these possible diagnoses.

SAR.

To be fair, Professor Baron-Cohen does, as all decent scientists should, say that he maintains an open mind regarding Thimerosal. I completely agree with him. If it was proven in scientifc, peer-reviewed journals that autism was mercury poisoning then I’d be first in the queue. However, as we’ve already seen, autism is not mercury poisoning, its a disorder which is almost certainly at least partly genetic.

So lets give GR the benefit of the doubt. Lets say that what they actually meant when they said that autism was mercury poisoning was that autism is caused by mercury poisoning. I mean, lets not beat around the bush – this is not what they claim but lets be fair and assume they did. Is it true? Does mercury poisoning cause autism?

If it does we need to answer the following questions:

• Why do only a few people (relatively speaking) ‘get’ autism? If mercury poisoning causes autism we should see a much, much greater prevelance than we do. The vast majority of children in the UK have had vaccines.
• If mercury poisoning causes autism why, when Thimerosal was removed from US vaccines in 2000, have autism cases not dropped? (http://www.autism-watch.org/general/thio.shtml)
• Why is there no scientifically valid, peer-reviewed evidence available to support the theory that mercury poisoning causes autism?

Here’s a few extracts from Quackwatch, the science website dedicated to exposing scientific fallacies.

A study published in 2002 of infants who were 6 months of age or younger compared the levels of mercury in the blood, hair, urine, and stool of 40 who received vaccines containing thimerosal and 20 who received vaccines without thimerosal. The study found: Mercury levels in blood and urine were low in all infants studied and in many cases too small to measure. There was no observed dose-dependent relationship between the level of thimerosal received through vaccination and the level of mercury in the body. Mercury levels in blood did not exceed, at any time, the blood levels that correspond to Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for exposure. Mercury levels in the stool of infants receiving vaccines containing thimerosal were relatively high compared to mercury levels in the stool of infants who were not exposed to thimerosal, providing evidence that mercury from thimerosal is eliminated in the stool of infants. The researchers concluded that, “Administration of vaccines containing thiomersal does not seem to raise blood concentrations of mercury above safe values in infants.”

http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/immu/thimerosal.html

As recently as last month (Feb 2005), the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published a report by UK and Japanese researchers that disproved the thimerosal-autism connection in a study of 30,000 Japanese kids. The website of the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) offers several studies that refute any linkage. The CDC’s own Institute of Medicine’s Immunization Safety Review Committee recently concluded that “neither thimerosal-containing vaccines or MMR [measles-mumps-rubella] vaccine are associated with autism” and that “the hypotheses regarding a link between autism and MMR vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines lack supporting evidence and are only theoretical.”

http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/03/revisiting-thimerosal-autism.html

More to the point: If there were a link between thimerosal and autism, you would expect to see a sharp decrease in autism, since thimerosal has been absent from all childhood vaccines (except some flu vaccines) for five years now, On the contrary, the documented autism rate has continued to climb, proving there is no relationship between the two whatsoever.

http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2005/03/revisiting-thimerosal-autism.html

Those who support the idea that mercury causes autism cite a wide range of researchers who’ve conducted research into the connection and found positive evidence to support the link. Particular favourites amongst believers in the link are Dr. Mark Geier, David Geier (who’s not even a Doctor) and Dr Andrew Wakefield.

Dr Mark Geier is in American parlance a ‘professional witness’, meaning one who will perform as an expert witness for you in court cases for money. Here’s an official court order regarding Mark Geier from November 2003.

He is however a professional witness in areas for which he has no training, expertise, and experience. Petitioners must seriously consider whether they want to proceed with a witness whose opinion on neurological diagnosis is unacceptable to the undersigned. When we reach the end of this case and the question of expert fees arises, there will be serious doubt whether Dr. Geier should be compensated for his time devoted to diagnosing an acute encephalopathy where none exists, and discussing (in his first supplemental affidavit) the MMR reactions of acute encephalopathy and encephalitis when neither is relevant in this case because Christopher, who was alert and in no acute distress on the 15th day after his MMR vaccination (when Dr. Geier opines his acute encephalopathy began on the 14th day, less than 24 hours earlier), could not possibly have had a Table acute encephalopathy or encephalitis. Moreover, three days later, he was also alert and in no acute distress.

And further to that,

The IOM report described two studies by Geier (6) which had reported an association between MMR and autism as “characterized by serious methodological flaws and their analytic methods were nontransparent making their results uninterpretable, and therefore non-contributory with respect to causality.” In other words, the studies by Geier could not establish a causal relation between MMR and autism because of their methods—such as using statistical measures incorrectly and omitting facts about their research approach. Similar problems were found in six other studies by Geier (7) and one study by Blaxill (8), which reported findings of an association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. In addition, Geier’s expertise in neurological disorders has been questioned.

And returning to the issue of Dr Geier’s ability as a professional witness:

In other vaccine cases, Dr. Geier’s testimony has similarly been accorded no weight: Thompson v. Secretary of HHS, No. 99-0436, 2003 WL 221439672 (Fed. CI. Spec. Mstr. May 23, 2003); Bruesewitz v. Secretary of HHS, No. 95-0266, 2002 WL 31965744 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. Dec. 20, 2002); Raj v. Secretary of HHS, No. 96-0294V, 2001 WL 963984, *12 (Fed. CI. Spec. Mstr. July 31, 2001); Haim v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-1031V, 1993 WL 346392 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. Aug. 27, 1993) (“Dr Geier’s testimony is not reliable, or grounded in scientific methodology and procedure. His testimony is merely subjective belief and unsupported speculation.”); Marascalco v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-1571V, 1993 WL 277095 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. July 9, 1993) (where the special master described Dr. Geier’s testimony as intellectually dishonest); Einspahr v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-923V, 1992 WL 336396 (CI. Ct. Spec. Mstr. Oct. 28, 1992), aff’d, 17 F.3d 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1994); Aldridge v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-2475V, 1992 WL 153770 (CI. Ct. Spec. Mstr. June 11, 1992); Ormechea v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-1683V, 1992 WL 151816 (Cl. Ct. Spec. Mstr. June 10, 1992) (“Because Dr. Geier has made a profession of testifying in matters to which his professional background (obstetrics, genetics) is unrelated, his testimony is of limited value to the court.”); Daly v. Secretary of HHS, No. 90-590V, 1991 WL 15473 (Cl. Ct. Spec. Mstr. July 26, 1991) (“The court is inclined not to allow Dr. Geier to testify before it on issues of Table injuries. Dr. Geier clearly lacks the expertise to evaluate the symptomatology of the Table injuries and render an opinion thereon.”).

All above quotes taken from Quackfiles blog

And how about Andrew Wakefield? A name more familiar to a UK audience definitely.

Sir Liam Donaldson, England’s chief medical officer, accused Dr Andrew Wakefield of peddling “poor science”. He said the 1998 study was flawed and has been criticised by “independent experts around the world”. His comments came as the General Medical Council prepared to open an investigation into the way Dr Wakefield carried out his study.

BBC News

So these are part of the scientific resources the ‘mercury causes autism’ followers have to rely on to provide their science. Not a great validation in my opinion. Not only have we seen how mercury poisoning is not solely responsible for autism, or probably even responsible at all, we’ve also seen that in all valid scientific tests done so far, mercury/thimerosal has been substantially unproven to be linked to autism as a causative. We’ve also seen how their leading researchers are held in very low esteem by their countries legaslative and medical bodies.

So what reason then do people have for promoting a link between mercury/thimerosal and autism? Who gets what out of it?

…(I)n a recent web search on “thimerosal autism”, five of the first ten results link to alarmist informational sites bankrolled by law firms. Not to knock my fellow professionals, but this data point makes it easier to understand why there is still so much press on the alleged thimerosal-autism connection. The agenda of many of these sites is quite clear: to link vaccines to autism and to stimulate lawsuits by aggrieved parents. As for the media’s ongoing interest in autism, sensationalism seems to be the primary motive.

Dr. Michel Cohen.

I’m not saying Generation Rescue are in it for the money but when the evidence that supports their theory that autism is mercury poisoning is so scanty and the evidence that goes against them so strong then a large element of doubt about their authenticity is only to be expected.

And why does all this matter so much to me?

Lots of reasons. Firstly, the treatment that groups like Generation Rescue sell is at best, experimental. Its called ‘Chelation Therapy’, stripping out the mercury (and/or other heavy metals) from the body. Here’s some opinions on it:

The use of chelation therapy to treat autistic children is completely bogus. Three successful lawsuits have been filed by parents who believe they were victimized in this way.

Details of the lawsuits and the subsequent shutting down of the clinic responsible for administering these treatments can be found on Quckwatch.org. Its disturbing reading. Also pretty disturbing are the fraud claims against Chelation therapists as well as the suits filed against Chelation therapists in Australia.

You may also find a visit to Quackwatch’s Chelation page interesting. It has links to two cases of fraud and five cases of Disciplinary action against Chelation therapists as well as details of why American Insurance companies won’t cover the administration of Chelation therapy.

Please note: I’m not claiming Chelation therpay has no medical benefit (although it looks pretty doubtful). I’m claiming that it has no medical benefit when used to treat autism. It also has no medical benefit for a range of other medical issues. Taken from the American Heart Association:

What’s chelation therapy? Chelation therapy has been proposed to treat existing atherosclerosis and to prevent it from forming. After carefully reviewing all the available scientific literature on this subject, the American Heart Association has concluded that the benefits claimed for this form of therapy aren’t scientifically proven. That’s why we don’t recommend this type of treatment.

American Heart Association.

So, in essence, Chelation therapy as a treatment for autism is useless. As a treatment for lots of other conditions its also useless. It does however have one legitimate use:

…(C)helation has legitimate use for treating heavy metal poisoning.

Chelationwatch.

So what does that tell us? Well, to me it quite clearly says that any ‘autistic’ being successfuly treated with Chelation therapy wasn’t autistic – they were metal poisoned.

It matters to me that people are being fooled in their honest attempts to help their autistic children into being treated with this stuff. The more attention rubbish like this gets, the less attention valid interventions such as PECS gets and another generation of autistic kids get treated as experimental guinea pigs by well meaning parents doing their best with the information most readily to hand.

So I generally believe Generation Rescue are evil right? No. I believe they possibly do great work in detoxing kids suffering from metal poisoning and its further true to say that some autistic kids may well have metal poisoning – its not the sole province of non-autisitcs after all – but they should seriously rethink their stance on ‘autism is mercury poisoning’. Its a simplistic error and one thats shamefully calculated to play on the best intentions of parents of autistic kids. It could also have serious health implications on the children being treated. Where are the long term health studies into Chelation therapy? I’ve not seen one. Tht doesn’t mean they don’t exist of course but before I subject my child to any course of medication I want to give that method a serious investigation. It does strike me as ironic that the same parents who rush to condem a vaccine that is proven not to cause autism are happy to submit their kids to a very under-researched area of medicine.

Its also depressingly ironic that we’re now beginning to reap the consequences of our folly as a recent outbreak of Rubella in Canada shows. Rubella, of course, can cause autism.

I believe as a parent that my overriding responsibility is to the health of my children. Thats why we only use interventions that definitely help and don’t use those that are not based on valid science. I further believe that my responsibility to my kids is to raise them to be happy and confident of who they are. We don’t seek a cure as we love Megan for who she is. She’s smart, bright, confident, funny, annoying, noisy, stand-offish, loving, stimming, involved, curious and autistic. There’s nothing I’d want to change about any of that and the things that are a problem like her toileting, her lack of effective communication and sleeplesness are intervened in with varying degrees of success. But we know that our interventions are scientifically valid. They require a hell of a lot fo work and there’s no quick fix but who could possibly not want to spend more time with their kids?

NB: I’m sure people will have a lot to say and thats fine. If you keep it polite and well mannered your comments will stay. I won’t tolerate abusive tone or language and I’d appreciate it if you used the ‘textile’ tool (see link next to comment box) to properly create links if you cite them. Anyone who does lapse into abuse will be reported to their ISP and their IP address will be banned from here. I have 2 (soon to be 3) kids to parent, I don’t have time to parent you too.