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Kim Stagliano: when you don’t have facts, go for personal attacks

1 Dec

When I wrote a response to the Age of Autism blog piece, Pass the Maalox: An AoA Thanksgiving Nightmare, I specifically left out mention of a particularly disgusting comment by Kim Stagliano, “managing editor” of AoA. If you wonder what I’m talking about, Orac, Skepchick and Countering Age of Autism have all discussed it.

I figured, well, Ms. Stagliano has coughed up a big enough hairball for now, she should be quiet for a bit.

Not so. In a recent blog post on the Huffington Post, Ms. Stagliano responds to the Amy Wallace piece in Wired with personal attacks. Does she take on Ms. Wallace? No. That would make too much sense. Besides, her fellow AoA blogger already embarrassed them with his efforts.

No, Ms. Stagliano attacks Dr. Paul Offit.

Does she use facts? Does she use science? Does she have anything of real substance to bring to the table?

No.

Here’s her opening paragraph:

I grew up in Boston, and am old enough to recall when the Catholic Church adamantly denied the sex scandal. Priests harming children? Sex abuse? No one wanted it to be true, and so it was easier to swallow the denials than to believe the children and adults whose lives were altered forever and who had the courage to speak out. That is, until the injured parties brought forth so much proof that the Church had to do its own digging and Catholics had to open their eyes and say, “My good God, the children and parents were right.” The Church has survived and programs are in place to avoid going back to those dark times.

(emphasis added by me)

Does this have anything to do with autism, vaccines or Dr. Offit?

No.

But, hey, a good smear job doesn’t need logic.

I’ll say it again: Dr. Offit isn’t your enemy. Your lack of science is your enemy. Kim Stagliano, grow up. The autism communities deserve better.

(note: minor edits were made shortly after this was published)

Is DMSA safe and effective?

1 Dec

This is the question posed by Prometheus over at A Photon in the Darkness blog. He blogged this in response to two papers recently published:

Safety and Efficacy of Oral DMSA Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part A – Medical Results

Safety and Efficacy of Oral DMSA Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part B – Behavioral Results

The short answer is, yes, DMSA is safe and effective. That is, if you have lead poisoning. It is likely safe and effective for other heavy metal exposures as well.

As far as a treatment for autism, well, that is another story entirely. The study authors claim that oral DMSA is “…possibly helpful in reducing some of the symptoms of autism in those children”.

Take a look at Prometheus’ analysis of the study. It is very clear that the study authors used, well, curious methodology. Beyond that, their conclusions are not really supported by their own data.

A quicker guide to the ‘Green Vaccines’ Initiative

30 Nov

Some music to accompany this entry.

Over at AoA, Kent Heckenlively must be making the rest of the crew nervoous. Maybe you haven’t read his brand new idea for making the ‘green our vaccines’ initiative a political…um…’force’. To whit:

We’re not going to get anywhere with our current legal system because everything gets funneled into Vaccine Court. We’re not going to get far with the current media because they’re so heavily funded by pharmaceutical drug ads. We’re not going to get far with the medical community because they’re part of the machinery.

And don’t even get me started on the politicians. On one hand you have pharma handing out millions of dollars to politicians, and on the other you have parents of children with autism who are slowly bankrupted by this disease. Who do you think is going to have more money to ‘support’ the politician of their choice?

So Kent wants to tackle the legal system, the media, the medical community and politicians. And how?

In the months leading up to this announcement I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the necessary ingredients for a successful rebellion. Reading books on our own American Revolution has given me some guidance…

Cool. Nifty idea Kent. Tackle the legal system, the medical system, the political system and the media by reading a few books on the American Revolution. I think this is definitely a winner.

I’ve carefully scanned the article a few times (whilst wiping the tears of laughter away) but yep – that seems to be about it. And really, if we (god save us) look at this seriously for a moment what is it? Its a tacit admission that Kent doesn;t like the fact that these systems he wants to change don’t agree with him and his loon friends that vaccines cause autism. In fact, take a look at the comments and you’ll see its moved beyond autism to outright anti-vaxx. Is Kent proposing the very first anti-vaxx based political party? Some choice comments:

…thank you for the opportunity your statement gave us to refine the expression of our opposition to any form of vaccination.

I will never vaccinate again…

I no longer think any vaccine is safe…

There are no green vaccines. I am convinced.

I am in the camp that you can’t make vaccine safe ever

Finished listening to Pink Floyd yet? Good isn’t it?

Pass the Maalox: An AoA Thanksgiving Nightmare

30 Nov

It is no secret that I don’t appreciate the humor or the pseudoscience at the Age of Autism blog. Frankly, the pseudoscience is worse than the humor as it is so damaging to the autism communities. But, both are an embarrassment.

So, you can imagine my reaction to their recent post “Pass the Maalox: An AoA Thanksgiving Nightmare“. If you haven’t seen it, someone spent her Thanksgiving holiday with photoshop making a picture of the favorite people to hate look like they are eating a baby.

You know the reaction they wanted: outrage. You know the one they actually get: a heavy sigh. As in, “Oh, well, here we go again with AoA’s embarrassing approach to autism blogging”

Why blog it? Because it is a good introduction to what I’ve wanted to write since the recent articles at the Chicago Tribune. (if you haven’t read them, do. email them to all those well meaning people who keep sending you links to miracle cure websites. They are here and here ).

What is the message I wanted to write? Simple. To all the Age of Autism readership: people like the Tribune writers, Tom Insel, Paul Offit and others are not your enemy. These people are not standing in your way.

Your lack of good science is what is standing in your way.

Unfortunately, that isn’t likely going to change. You flat out stated that Autism is just a misdiagnosis for mercury poisoning. You were wrong, but you can’t admit it. You bet everything on the idea that mercury and/or the MMR vaccine caused an epidemic of autism. You were wrong, but you can’t admit it.

The “nightmare” you are living is of your own doing. You created a false model of autism. It isn’t the fault of the many (MANY) observers who tell you you are wrong.

Your lawyers and “scientists” put together the best story they could in the vaccine court–the Autism Omnibus Proceeding. They claimed that MMR or thimerosal caused autism, and set out to prove it. They failed.

You really should read the expert reports submitted for the Autism Omnibus Proceeding. The people who wrote these reports aren’t your enemy. The facts they report are the enemy of the house of cards you built.

Reports from the Cedillo trial

Report of Jeffrey Brent, toxicologist.

Report of Edwin Cook, psychiatrist and geneticist.

Report of Eric Fombonne, psychiatrist and epidemiologist.

Report of Robert Fujinami, immunologist.

Report of Michael Gershon, neurogastroenterologist.

Report of Diane Griffin, immunologist and virologist.

Report of Stephen Hanauer, gastroenterologist.

Report of Christine McCusker, pediatric immunologist.

Report of Brian Ward, neurovirologist

Report of Max Wiznitzer, pediatric neurologist.

Report of Andrew Zimmerman, pediatric neurologist.

Declaration of Nicolas Chadwick, Ph.D.

Critique of Dr. Hepner’s letter, by Stephen Bustin, world expert on PCR.

Affadavit by Stephen Bustin, world expert on PCR.

Affadavit of Bertus Rima, molecular biologist, measles virus expert.

Reports from the Dwyer trial
Report of Bennett Leventhal, child psychiatrist

Reports form the Hazelhurst Trial
Report of Thomas MacDonald, immunologist.

Report of Christine McCusker, pediatric immunologist.

Report of Robert Rust, Pediatric Neurologist.

King Hearings

Report of Jeffrey Brent, toxicologist.

Report of Manuel Cassanova, psychiatrist.

Report of Steven Goodman, epidemiologist.

Report of Jeffrey Johnson, toxicologist, expert on oxidative stress.

Report of Dean Jones, professor of medicine.

Report of Thomas Kemper, neurologist.

Report of Catherine Lord, psychologist, world expert on autism.

Report of Richard Mailman, professor of psychiatry, pharmacology and neurology.

Report of L. Jackson Roberts, professor of pharmacology and medicine.

Report of Patricia Rodier, expert in autism and mercury toxicology.

Report of Sir Michael Rutter, professor of developmental psychopatholgoy, world expert on autism.

Letter from Carlos Pardo-Villimazar to Thomas Kemper


Another expert report by Eric Fombonne


Expert report of Robert Rust


Another report of Robert Rust

Supplemental report of Jeffrey Brent


Expert report of Michael McCabe

Expert report of Bertus Rima

Supplemental report of Brian Ward

Supplemental report of Max Wiznitzer

Letter from Michael Oldstone to Brian Ward

Another supplemental report by Max Wiznitzer

News Reports demonstrating misuse and misunderstanding of autism science

Autism treatment: Science hijacked to support alternative therapies
By Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan, Chicago Tribune

Researchers warn against misusing report

Autism treatments: Risky alternative therapies have little basis in science
By Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan ,Tribune reporters

Experimental treatments

Autism treatment: Success stories more persuasive to some than hard data
By Trine Tsouderos and Patricia Callahan ,Tribune reporters


Questionable treatments for children with autism


Autism doctor: Troubling record trails doctor treating autism
Second of two parts By Patricia Callahan and Trine Tsouderos ,Tribune reporters

Miracle drug’ called junk science
By Trine Tsouderos ,Tribune reporter

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All
Amy Wallace, Wired Magazine

You folks at the Age of Autism would like to pretend that there are a few people standing in the way of the “obvious” conclusions that mercury and the MMR vaccine caused an autism “epidemic” and that alternative medicine offers a cure.

You are wrong on every count. It isn’t a few people. It is almost everyone who looks at the “data” you have to offer. It isn’t just epidemiology, either. The mechanisms you present are just not supported by any real science. Your problem isn’t that there are people in your way. The problem is that your “data” is junk. Sorry, there is no nicer way to put it. There is no hard evidence for an epidemic. If there is a real increase in real autism incidence, you guys are actually standing in the way of finding the real causes. As to the “cure” offered by alternative medicine, that’s my thanksgiving nightmare: the idea that some “alternative” doctor from the Age of Autism stable is treating my child with poorly conceived “therapies” based on the same junk science you folks promote.

That sends shivers up this autism parent’s spine.

Bob Wright snubs autistic adults, the same group who live in poverty

23 Nov

The New York Post reported on Autism Speaks founder Bob Wright having a grumpy slap at adult autistic people who were protesting the fact that Autism Speaks still has no autistic representation on its Board.

Bob Wright had harsh words for protesters who tried to muck up the A-list benefit concert he put on at Carnegie Hall on behalf of autistic kids.

“The protesters are lucky,” said Wright. “They’re well off enough, healthy enough, to do it. I wish my grandson were able to join them.”

Wright runs Autism Speaks, which has raised over $200 million for research into a disorder that afflicts mainly children.

That didn’t stop a clutch of sign-carrying adult protesters from descending on Carnegie Hall Tuesday night, trying to disrupt a concert attended by Donald Trump, Howard Stern and Martha Stewart. Protesters complain that there’s not one autistic person on the board of the org, which produced an “offensive” ad suggesting that autism was a fate worse than death.

Wright, whose grandson cannot talk because of autism, said the disorder is exploding among young kids who can’t speak for themselves.

“This is serious business,” he said.

Note how the reporter states that the benefit was for autistic kids and further states that autism affects mainly children. This should give some insight into the silly one dimensional world that the Wrights, and by extension, Autism Speaks inhabit. Of course autism doesn’t affect mainly children. In fact, it would seem that the reverse is true.

I would like to suggest to Bobo that what is serious business is blindly misrepresenting autism either purposefully or (more likely) out of ignorance. I would also like to suggest that its about time Autism Speaks walked the walk and got aome autistic Board level members. I would further suggest that Bobo wakes up and smells the coffee. Young autistic kids definitely find it difficult to talk for themselves. Most kids of his grandsons age might find it difficult to form coherent opinions on high level concepts like the right to be who you are. In the meantime, having an autistic Board level member would be a step in the right direction. I’d happily accept Jake Crosby or Jon Mitchell. Two men who I vehemntly disagree with yet who’s opinion on autism I respect due to their diagnosis.

Maybe Bobo might take a look across the pond if his cheeks aren’t still smarting from the slapdown he got last time he came over here. Maybe the reality of life for autistic adults over here might cause him to get a bit of a reality check as to where his research priorities should lie. As he continues to steer Autism Speaks down the increasingly stupid looking anti-vaxx hypotheses,

A THIRD of Wales’ autism sufferers are unemployed and living in ‘poverty’ without benefits, a charity has said.

9,000 autistic adults are surviving (sort of) on handouts from friends and family. Not only are they subject to ignorance in job centres, they are not made aware of _how_ to make a claim:

She [Shirley Parsley] said: “It is scandalous, therefore, that thousands of people with this serious, lifelong and disabling condition are being consigned to poverty by a complex and counter-productive benefits system.”

This is the reality of life for autistic adults. Abandoned by a state system and also abandoned by Autism Speaks, an organisation focussed solely it seems on people of Bob Wright’s grandchilds age. Whilst Bobo complains about how autism is ‘exploding amongst kids who can’t talk for themselves’ (a factoid for which there’s no valid science), the adults he and his organisation turn their backs on are literally starving.

Boyd Haley brings the weirdness

19 Nov

On 12th Novemeber, Vueweekly featured the second part of an interview with Boyd Haley during which Professor Haley contradicted so many of the basic tenets of the autism/vaccine hypothesis – and also of good ol’ common sense (remember her?) that I was left wondering if he was in fact an Evil Neurodiversity spy sent to make himself look like an asshat.

“What about the argument that autism rates haven’t declined since thimersoal has been removed from vaccines?” I pose. “It’s a total deception,” he says. “We don’t actually know the autism rate for the last officially thimerosal-vaccinated cohort. And according to parents who asked to look at vaccine inserts, thimerosal was still present in childhood vaccines as late as 2004 in many places. Then in 2004, the flu vaccine, which contains thimerosal, was recommended for six-month-old infants. I don’t know if we even have a thimerosal-free time frame.”

Uh….what? Whilst Haley is literally right he kind of misses points so large they’d fit perfectly on the head of a stag. He claims we don’t know the autism rate for the last officially thimerosal-vaccinated cohort, whereas it might be more accurate to state we don’t really *know* the rate for any autism cohort, ever. No one’s looked. The latest estimates in both the UK and US come in at around 1 in 100. And really, he has the question bass-ackwards. What we need to know is how much thiomersoal was in official use during the last few years as the autism estimates have been rising. The answer to that is, aside from the voluntary flu vaccine and a trace amount used in the manufacture of one brand of vaccine, none. Doesn’t need a professor to work this out…lets go through it Boyd, no thiomersal, rising autism estimates…hmmmm….

We don’t _need_ a thiomersal free time frame. We simply need to compare the autism estimates for when there was a lot of thiomersal in use to now, when there’s pretty much none.

Cherry picking another bemusing quote, we get:

Autistic infants are totally incapable of excreting mercury. They’d be fine if they weren’t exposed to thimerosal.

Hmmm, a Professor of chemistry who’s not aware that even Jill James doesn;t claim that autistic infants are *totally incapable* of excreting mercury. And a professor of chemistry who’s not aware that mercury occurs naturally in humans in greater amounts than vaccines.

Haley then brings on a strawman:

Whatever is causing autism must affect boys more than girls, as autism rates are higher among boys than girls. It is well-known and documented that testosterone accentuates the effects of mercury…

Firstly, it is now suspected (I’ll try hunt down the link) that autism affects females in a much greater number than previously suspected. It should also be noted that whilst testosterone does accentuate the effects of mercury, no valid research has ever been done to show that testosterone is working with thiomersal to heighten the effect of the mercury. Haley is just making a specious correlation.

More weirdness:

“We know autism isn’t genetic,” he says. “You can have a genetic susceptibility, which together with an environmental toxin is what I believe is causing it, but autism went epidemic in all 50 states at one time. This isn’t the behaviour of a genetically caused disease.

Actually, a goodly proportion of autism *is* assocated with genetic abnormalities. Rett syndrome – a form of autism – is _entirely_ genetic.

Haley is also in error when claims autism ‘went epidemic’. Nobody knows wether the rates of autism have ‘gone epidemic’ because we have no base measurement. Nobody can say how many autistic people there were five years ago, let alone 20. And Boyd, really, doesn;t the fact that – as you state – something happened ‘at one time’ lead you to look for explanations closer to reality? Something like…oh, say, a change in the DSM criteria which massively expanded the definition of autism? Something that _did_ happen 20 yeas ago?

The rest of Haley’s piece is a pointed reference to himself as a hero whos truth is being hidden from us all by the nasty pharma companies.

Weird. Just weird. Haley needds to catch up with the rest of the anti-vax loons who have cottoned on to the truth that the thiomersal boat is full of massive holes and pretty much lies waterlogged somewhere off the coast of Stupidville.

Thoughtful House acknowledges that chelation can be dangerous and not effective

14 Nov

IV Chelation could cause death, and Thoughtful House acknowledges it:

From a recent story in the Austin Statesman:

Thoughtful House’s IV chelation consent form, which Juli Martinez provided to the American-Statesman, includes a long list of possible side effects that include intestinal disorders, joint pain and, in rare cases, “allergy, anaphylaxis, arrhythmia and even death.” It adds that the treatment offers no guarantee of success.

Wow, Thoughtful House admits that IV chelation, even as performed by them, could cause death.

I have read so many apologists for the doctor who killed Tariq Nadama with chelation. They typically read, “the doctor made a mistake” or “the doctor used the wrong drug” followed by statements that chelation is perfectly safe. And, yet, Thoughtful House seems to be saying that even the correct drug could result in death.

And there is no guarantee of success.

Parents in lawsuit over Thoughtful House treatement

14 Nov

Father takes ex-wife to court over son’s autism treatment is the title of a recent story on Statesman.com. The subtitle: Mother says intravenous treatment at Thoughtful House is unproven and too dangerous..

Yes, it’s about chelation. The kid has been undergoing chelation (suppository), but the father wants to do IV chelation. From the Statesman:

Mario Martinez wants his wife’s consent to let their 7-year-old son, William, undergo intravenous chelation — the use of chemicals to remove metals, such as lead and mercury, from the body. Martinez, 39, said he thinks his son is making steady progress at the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin by undergoing a less invasive form of chelation and wants the boy to start IV chelation.

The parents are divorced, with the father having primary care of the child. However, Thoughtful House requires both parents to consent to IV chelation.

The mother states that the suppository chelation has been ongoing for two years (yes, years) without progress, but with adverse side effects:

Juli Martinez said in an interview that her son has been receiving chelation in suppository form for two years, which she claims has made him ill. She said chelation hasn’t helped his autism but being in a regular classroom has.

The father has taken the mother to court to get the approval for the IV chelation.

Chelation is the process of removing metals from the body through drugs. Alternative medical practitioners (such as Thoughftul House) use chelation on the assumption that “heavy metal toxicity” is a factor in autism.

It isn’t. This is based on an incredibly bad hyptohesis (Autism is a “novel” form of mercury poisoning), and idea that actual medical toxicologists reject.

Chelation therapy for real heavy metal toxicity is not a prolonged process. Two years is very long. Chelation by suppository is a relatively inexpensive therapy. By contrast, IV chelation at thoughtful house involves $400 every two weeks in testing:

While there may not be scientific proof that chelation helps autism, anecdotal evidence exists, Mario Martinez said. He is willing to spend an extra $400 every two weeks on tests to make sure the twice-monthly IVs are safe, he said.

The father says that the IV chelation is great:

Mario Martinez, who has had primary custody of the couple’s two children since their 2007 divorce, disputes that chelation has made William ill and said that the boy had an IV chelation test that showed he easily tolerated it. He said it brought “immediate, dramatic results,” in which his learning and behavior improved.

I wonder what an “IV Chelation test” is? Did they do a round of IV chelation, without the mother’s consent? What about their rules that the mother has to approve?

Frankly, the mother should be the one taking the father to court.

The court proceeding has been put off until Dr. Jepson of Thoughful House can appear or give a deposition.

The mother is representing herself. Frankly, a medical toxicologist should step in to offer her some support to end this travesty.

Another example of irresponsible blogging by David Kirby

14 Nov

Autism Speaks recently put out what I consider to be a rather irresponsible press release. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) added a new objective, and Autism Speaks chose to frame it as “IACC includes vaccine research objective in strategic plan for autism research“. I’ve discussed that already, so I won’t go into more details here.

Instead, I want to take a look at how David Kirby treated this story. He blogged this as Top Federal Panel Endorses Autism Research That Includes Vaccines – Dueling Press Releases Ensue. Mr. Kirby takes on the role of (misinformed) cheerleader for the vaccine-epidemic groups that sponsor the Age of Autism blog, where the piece was posted. As you will see, he probably should have checked with his community before posting.

On Tuesday, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), Washington’s leading arbiter for directing federal funds to autism research, unanimously voted to recommend studies that include investigations into possible links between autism and environmental triggers – including vaccines – in certain subsets of children.

Mr. Kirby is invited to check the actual process of federal funding of autism research and the role of the IACC. He could watch the latest video of an IACC meeting, where Dr. Insel (director of NIMH and chair of the IACC) makes it clear that the IACC is an advisory and planning committee only. They are far from the “final arbiter for directing federal funds”. That is a minor point compared to the fact that the IACC did not recommend studies into the possible links between autism and vaccines.

This fact that the IACC was not committing to vaccine-autism research was not missed by some of his readers, who are quoted in the conclusion of his recent blog post. A conclusion which is rather confused in tone:

So, just to recap: The Federal Government’s top autism panel has voted unanimously to support studies into autism and its possible environmental triggers – including vaccination. In turn, Autism Speaks has cheered “including vaccine research objectives in the IACC plan” while its supposed rival, ASF, has equally cheered that “vaccine research (is) out of the IACC autism plan.”

Some parents I spoke with grudglingly accepted ASF’s view of events, however. “IACC took out ALL proposed vaccine research studies; They specifically elimated A) a vax unvax study, B) an unvaxed or partially vaxed sibs study and C) an adjuvant study – all gone,” one mother wrote. “They only left the word “vaccine” in a along laundry list of POTENTIAL future possible (translation never) study topics.”

Whether the IACC has recommended specific vaccine-autism research, or environment-autism research, vaccines remain on the list of possible contributors to autistic regression as far as the US Government is concerned.

And that is just how Congressional leaders intended it to be.

If parents are telling Mr. Kirby that the IACC is not really committing to fund vaccine research, how can this “just how Congressional leaders intended it to be”, since Mr. Kirby is asserting that the congressional intent is to include vaccine-autism research? It reads a bit confusing to me.

Well, it’s confusing because David Kirby has once again edited his post after the fact. Take a look at this screenshot of the original post:

kirby_backpedal

Yep, it’s different. Sometime after he posted his piece, he added the entire paragraph :

Some parents I spoke with grudglingly accepted ASF’s view of events, however. “IACC took out ALL proposed vaccine research studies; They specifically elimated A) a vax unvax study, B) an unvaxed or partially vaxed sibs study and C) an adjuvant study – all gone,” one mother wrote. “They only left the word “vaccine” in a along laundry list of POTENTIAL future possible (translation never) study topics.”

Yes, David Kirby wrote a post praising the IACC’s actions as funding vaccine research and then backpedaled when autism parents emailed him with the reality of the situation: the IACC did not commit to funding vaccine research.

He also edited out a comment where he refers to a statment by Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation as “And there was this, almost Orwellian statement: ”

I guess it was Orwellian until his own readers agreed with it?

Can you find where Mr. Kirby notes his change in that piece? Neither can I. A major change like this should be noted in the piece.

I’ll take a side-trip here into discussing Mr. Kirby’s mistakes and the way he handles them. Unfortunately, Mr. Kirby has a history of changing blog posts after the fact, even to the point of leaving clearly erroneous posts online without a comment.

A few examples:

He wrote a post, “CDC: Vaccine Study Design “Uninformative and Potentially Misleading“”. After Blogger (and epidemiologist) epiwonk showed the mistakes in that post, Mr Kirby rewrote the post, complete with a note about the error. In an odd move, he left first the erroneous post online. As epiwonk showed, even the second post was seriously flawed, but Mr. Kirby chose to leave it online.

Mr. Kirby made a serious misquote in his presentation to congressional staffers. No mention of the error was made in the power point slides he posted online.

He made a factor of 10 error in reading a graph for a blog post. He copied the blog post from the Age of Autism blog to the Huffington Post, and corrected the error in his Huffington Post piece without correcting the Age of Autism piece.

He made the rather simple error of mistaking the Obama transition teams Change.gov website for the change.gov website. Again, he posted to both the Age of Autism blog and to the Huffington Post. Mr. Kirby added a comment to the Huffington Post piece, but just deleted the erroneous post on the Age of Autism blog.

I make mistakes. Sometimes pretty spectacular mistakes. But I think it shows a certain level of disrespect from Mr. Kirby in how he handles his mistakes.

But, I’ve digressed from the main topic here: how Mr. Kirby handled the press releases from Autism Speaks and the Autism Science Foundation about the IACC’s new objective. Even without the confusing conclusion and the changes made after the fact, Mr. Kirby’s post is irresponsible.

It is one thing to take on the role of cheerleader/journalist as Mr. Kirby has done. But he gets to walk away from this community. He’s tried to walk away once, and he is now about to embark on a new career path taking on factory farming. In a few years when parents are complaining that the government hasn’t funded vaccine-autism research like David Kirby told us the government would…in a few years when the bitterness comes to the surface…where will David Kirby be? Will he be here to take responsibility for the mess he has created?

I admit, this is minor compared to the mess he made with convincing parents that autism was caused by thimerosal. How many children have been “treated” with chelation who wouldn’t have if Mr. Kirby hadn’t taken on this cause? How many of them regressed or were otherwise harmed? We will never know.

And he will never accept his role in this and his responsibility.

Autism Speaks misleads the public on the IACC’s stance on vaccine research

12 Nov

Autism Speaks recently announced that the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) included vaccine research studies into the objectives of the Strategic Plan. I’m sure many people who read their press release are thinking that the vaccine-autism research will definitely be funded. But, is this accurate? The answer is no.

According to the press release and the Autism Speaks website:

Autism Speaks is encouraged by yesterday’s decision of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) to include vaccine research studies in the objectives of the updated Strategic Plan for Autism Research. The new language, approved unanimously, calls for studies to determine if there are sub-populations that are more susceptible to environmental exposures such as immune challenges related to naturally occurring infections, vaccines or underlying immune problems. “This revised plan is an important step toward a more comprehensive approach to exploring the wide range of risk factors that may be contributing to autism,” said Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., Autism Speaks chief science officer.

I’ve already noted that the statement Autism Speaks gave before the IACC was incorrect. Vaccine research was not a “clear directive” of the Combating Autism Act. You can check for yourself.

Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation, and member of the IACC, has a statement on the ASF blog, Autism Science Foundation Agrees with Decision to Keep Vaccine Research Out of the IACC Autism Plan.

The ASF blog notes:

Autism Science Foundation President and Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee member Alison Singer joined her colleagues on the IACC in voting to eliminate references in the autism strategic plan that could imply that vaccines cause autism or that call for additional vaccine research. “Draft materials submitted to the IACC suggesting vaccines and/or vaccine components were implicated in autism were rejected by the committee because the IACC determined that they were not based on good science,” said Singer. In addition, the two research objectives proposed that specifically called for additional vaccine research were not approved.

Also:

Singer added that some groups seem to be misinterpreting the inclusion of the word “vaccines” in the list of examples of immune challenges as a mandate for vaccine research, and have issued misleading statements. “Based on the votes taken yesterday, the IACC was clear in its position about autism and vaccines. But if there is public confusion about this new research objective then I will try to make sure we clarify it at our next meeting,” Singer said. The IACC will continue its work on the plan at a meeting on December 11, 2009 with the goal of finalizing the revised plan by January, 2010.

The entire statement can be read on the Autism Science Foundation’s blog.

It appears that Autism Speaks is placing a fairly major spin on a single action taken by the IACC. Again from the ASF blog:

The IACC also voted unanimously to add a new objective to study whether or not there are certain subpopulations that are more susceptible to environmental exposures such as immune challenges (including naturally occurring infection, vaccines, and/or immune disorders).

Compare that to the Autism Speaks announcement:

IACC Includes Vaccine Research Objective In Strategic Plan For Autism Research
Autism Speaks is Encouraged by New Language Recommending Funding of Vaccine Research

Or, worse yet, the first line of their press release: “Autism Speaks is encouraged by yesterday’s decision of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) to include vaccine research studies in the objectives of the updated Strategic Plan for Autism Research”

As I noted above, I am very confident that many people reading the announcement are expecting autism-vaccine research to be funded.

But this isn’t a “vaccine research objective”. This isn’t calling for “vaccine research studies”.

What it is, is an objective that mentions vaccines. It is a very important distinction. Take a close look, the objective does not call specifically for a vaccine project to be funded. It doesn’t even call for immune challenges to be funded. These are just listed as possible examples.

This is a small example of why the IACC needs to be very careful in how and if they discuss vaccines. Groups such as Autism Speaks can act incredibly irresponsibly in spinning any statement including the word vaccines.

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