The IACC’s commitment to environmental causation research

14 Apr

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) met on Monday. I was unable to listen to much of it, although I did get to hear most of the presentation by Joseph Piven. His talk was about the Infant Brain Imaging Study:

Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) Network

Joseph Piven, M.D.
Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology
Director, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities
Director, Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

There are some very interesting results coming out on onset of brain overgrowth and timing of onset of autistic symptoms.

There was also, as you might imagine from the title of this post, some reference to environmental causation research. As in, promoting the notion that the IACC hasn’t and doesn’t support environmental causation research. This is far from the truth. Strangely, one doesn’t find news on the research going into environmental causation on the blogs which focus upon environmental causation. One can find it here, though. For example:

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

US proposes $154M in new autism research projects

Poul Thorsen indicted

14 Apr

Poul Thorsen, a Danish scientist who worked on many subjects including autism prevalence, was indicted in the United States today, the Atlanta Business Chronical reports. The article, Dane indicted for defrauding CDC, notes:

A Danish man was indicted Wednesday on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly concocting a scheme to steal more than $1 million in autism research money from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Poul Thorsen started his association with the CDC as a visiting researcher. Later he moved to Denmark and Aarhus University.

According to the news article, Mr. Thorsen was using his position to create fraudulent invoices, and got his university to pay funds into his personal accounts in the US.

Mr. Thorsen worked on many projects. Most pertinent to this blog are his group’s efforts on autism epidemiology. These include works on MMR vaccines and thimerosal (e.g. A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism and Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data )

No charge has been made about the quality of these research projects or the conclusions drawn. However vaccine-causation advocates have been promoting the Thorsen case as part of their efforts.

Make no mistake: if guilty Poul Thorsen has committed very serious crimes. As a taxpayer, of course I am upset that this man might have stolen taxpayer money. As an autism parent, I can say without reservation that if found guilty Mr. Thorsen should be sentenced to the maximum sentence. The damage to the reputation of the research community which has sought to answer the questions of vaccine causation. A million dollars is a lot of money, but it is small change compared to the potential damage that might be caused .

Autistic community concerned about Robert MacNeil’s upcoming PBS special “Autism Today”

13 Apr

The PBS NewsHour has a series airing soon on autism. I’ve discussed this, including some reservations I have about the program, here on LeftBrainRightBrain. The Autsitic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) has put out a press release about the upcoming program “PBS NewsHour Special “Autism Today” Leaves Out Key Stakeholders, Relies on Old Stereotypes”

PBS NewsHour Special “Autism Today” Leaves Out Key Stakeholders, Relies on Old Stereotypes

WASHINGTON, DC (April 11th, 2011) – In the midst of autism awareness month, early questions are emerging about next week’s PBS NewsHour six-part special about the autism spectrum. The highly promoted series – titled “Autism Today” – is generating controversy from an unexpected source: Autistic people themselves. Today, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) released a statement expressing concern over the failure of NewsHour co-founder and reporter Robert MacNeil to interview representatives of any organizations run by Autistic adults and the presence of concerning stereotypes about Autistic Americans in the promotional material.

“We are very concerned about the upcoming NewsHour special,” said ASAN President Ari Ne’eman, “While we will obviously be judging the final product when it airs, it appears from the promotional material that no Autistic-run organizations were interviewed or consulted during its creation – and that the series may rely on erroneous and offensive tropes claiming that Autistic people are violent, less than human and incapable of empathy.”

Early promotional material from PBS show that while MacNeil interviewed many parents, physicians and educators for the series, no organizations run by Autistic adults themselves were consulted or approached. In fact, no information exists as to whether or not Mr. MacNeil interviewed any Autistic people during his reporting about the autism spectrum.

“As an Autistic young adult, I am concerned about how this upcoming PBS series may misrepresent me and my disability,” said 17-year old Autistic high schooler Lydia Brown of Melrose, Massachusetts. “I want journalism that addresses the systemic problems behind the challenges I and other autistic people face instead of reporting that plays into the popular media’s misleading and harmful stereotypes about Autistic people.”

In an interview about the series on PBS.org, MacNeil stated his feeling that Autistic Americans lack “the most human thing we have, which is our ability to look into each others eyes and feel that other person’s existence and what might be going on in their mind, and to empathize with them.” Later during the interview, MacNeil made unsupported statements suggesting that Autistic adults are disproportionately and randomly violent as compared to the general population.

“We urge PBS to work with the Autistic community to review the series prior to airtime to correct any errors of fact or ethics,” said Ne’eman, “Furthermore, let me take this opportunity to invite Mr. MacNeil to meet with representatives from the community of Autistic adults. I think he’d find it very educational. It is our sincere hope that PBS does not exclude this perspective in future programming about the autism spectrum.”

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) is the nation’s leading advocacy organization run entirely by and for Autistic adults and youth. ASAN’s supporters include Autistic adults and youth, cross-disability advocates, family members, professionals, educators and friends. ASAN was created to provide support and services to individuals on the autism spectrum while working to change public perception and combat misinformation by educating communities about persons on the autism spectrum. The organization’s activities include public policy advocacy, community engagement to encourage inclusion and respect for neurodiversity, quality of life oriented research and the development of Autistic cultural activities and other opportunities for Autistic people to engage with others on the spectrum.

Alabama given permission to cut special education funding

13 Apr

We’ve discussed it before: some states are starting to ask for waivers from the federal government to allow for reductions in special education funding. From Al.com: Federal goverment to let Alabama cut spending for special education. Here’s the first few paragraphs:

WASHINGTON — Ala­bama is one of a handful of states given permission to cut spending on special ed­ucation this school year, a rare concession from Wash­ington for states facing se­vere shortfalls in their state budgets.

State education officials had asked to spend $9.2 mil­lion less on education pro­grams for disabled children than last year, a 1.45 percent drop.

In a response letter dated Thursday, federal education officials said they were will­ing to waive the insulation that special education pro­grams normally have from cutbacks because the reduc­tion was a fraction of the cuts made to the rest of the education budget.

Alabama reduced its over­all spending on education by 8.41 percent in the 2010-11 fiscal year — 8.46 percent in elementary and secondary education.

The federal governement will give the same amount to Alabama for special education:

If the waiver had been rejected, Washington would have reduced the amount of money it sends to Alabama for special education next year by $9.2 million. Washington said it expects Alabama to spend about $635 million on special education in the 2011-12 year, which would have been the budget before the waiver was granted.

Best image from an iPad-autism blog post

12 Apr

If you don’t regularly read the Liv’s Journey blog, it’s well worth taking a look. The blog has some great insights and a great sense of humor. Case in point: The Case FOR iPads Being a Miracle Device for Children with Autism. Posted in response to a post here on LeftBrainRightBrain: Wired: iPads Are Not a Miracle for Children With Autism, it takes a long look at the iPad. What made me snort aloud what this graphic:

I don’t know if he lifted it from someplace or created it himself (I didn’t find it with a quick google search). But it shows the humor of the blog. The real meat is in the actual posts, which are very well thought out and presented.

Reassessing the role of mitochondrial DNA mutations in autism spectrum disorder.

12 Apr

Autism and mitochondrial medicine have become a very hot topic in recent years. What the connections are between autism and mitochondrial disorders has yet to be clarified. Mitochondria are little structures within cells that produce much of the energy required. Mitochondria have their own DNA (mtDNA) in addition to the nuclear DNA (nDNA) of the cell. nDNA is what most people think of when we hear “genes” or DNA. Given the focus on mitochondrial dysfunction and autism, it is natural to consider the question: are there mutations in the mtDNA which increase the risk of autism?

A new paper takes a look at the question. They studied 148 patients with ASD and found, well, no support for a link to mtDNA mutations. Here is the abstract:

BMC Med Genet. 2011 Apr 6;12(1):50. [Epub ahead of print]
Reassessing the role of mitochondrial DNA mutations in autism spectrum disorder.
Alvarez-Iglesias V, Mosquera-Miguel A, Cusco I, Carracedo A, Perez-Jurado LA, Salas A.
Abstract
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that impairment of mitochondrial energy metabolism plays an important role in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD; OMIM number: 209850). A significant proportion of ASD cases display biochemical alterations suggestive of mitochondrial dysfunction and several studies have reported that mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule could be involved in the disease phenotype.

METHODS: We analysed a cohort of 148 patients with idiopathic ASD for a number of mutations proposed in the literature as pathogenic in ASD. We also carried out a case control association study for the most common European haplogroups (hgs) and their diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by comparing cases with 753 healthy and ethnically matched controls.

RESULTS: We did not find statistical support for an association between mtDNA mutations or polymorphisms and ASD.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results are compatible with the idea that mtDNA mutations are not a relevant cause of ASD and the frequent observation of concomitant mitochondrial dysfunction and ASD could be due to nuclear factors influencing mitochondrion functions or to a more complex interplay between the nucleus and the mitochondrion/mtDNA.

PMID: 21470425 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]Free Article

This is consistent with previous studies, as noted in a recent review article which was itself summarized at The Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism by Emily Willingham as Mitochondrial Disease and Autism: Linked?

Ms. Willingham noted there:

Thus, tracking down mitochondrial dysfunction in the context of ASD to a specific mutation has remained an elusive goal. Two scenarios are likely for this lack of mutational findings: (1) there are mutations, but we just haven’t found them yet; or (2) the environment is largely responsible for any mitochondrial dysfunction that abnormal marker levels might indicate.

This paper is available as a free manuscript online. Here is the

Although it is widely accepted that some forms of ASD appear concomitantly with the impairment of mitochondrial energy metabolism, there are reasons to believe that the cause of these mitochondrial disorders does not systematically rest on mutations or variants in the mtDNA molecule. Pathogenic mtDNA mutations have been reported in ASD patients, but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. It is more likely that the real causes of mitochondrial deficiencies in some ASD cases are due to the intervention of several nuclear factors acting alone (additively or epistatically) or through a complex interplay with mtDNA variants. For the time being, while the cause for mitochondrion dysfunction in ASD remains unclear, there is no reason to indicate systematic screening for mtDNA mutations in ASD patients unless a mitochondrion disorder is suggested by a clear phenotype.

What is also interesting to me is the table of characteristics of the study subjects. In particular, there is a big difference in the percentage with epilepsy and dimorphism between adults and children:

Mitochondrial dysfunction is listed as mild and somewhat infrequent (about 10%). Not the very high prevalences of mitochondrial dysfunction that some have suggested are present in autitics. This does beg the question: should this genetic study be performed on those with some measure of mitochondrial dysfunction?

This doesn’t mean that mitochondrial dysfunction isn’t an important area for autism research, or that a genetic study such as this shouldn’t be done on a larger group with some measure of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Of course it would be great to hear that there is something definitive in this study. As in, “this is it!” rather than “this probably isn’t it”. Mitochondrial DNA mutations “probably isn’t it” when it comes to the etiology of ASD in most people.

Effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii gaming technology in children with Down syndrome

11 Apr

I’ve read a lot about the benefits of the iPad over the past year. And, yes, it is a very good thing to add to the arsenal of tools to help disabled people. But the iPad is not the only new technology gadget on the market, and this was made clear in an article: Effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii gaming technology in children with Down syndrome.

Yep. The Wii. Here is the abstract:

Effectiveness of virtual reality using Wii gaming technology in children with Down syndrome.

Wuang YP, Chiang CS, Su CY, Wang CC.

Department of Occupational Therapy, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. yeepwu@cc.kmu.edu.tw
Abstract

This quasi-experimental study compared the effect of standard occupational therapy (SOT) and virtual reality using Wii gaming technology (VRWii) on children with Down syndrome (DS). Children (n = 105) were randomly assigned to intervention with either SOT or VRWii, while another 50 served as controls. All children were assessed with measures of sensorimotor functions. At post-intervention, the treatment groups significantly outperformed the control group on all measures. Participants in the VRWii group had a greater pre-post change on motor proficiency, visual-integrative abilities, and sensory integrative functioning. Virtual reality using Wii gaming technology demonstrated benefit in improving sensorimotor functions among children with DS. It could be used as adjuvant therapy to other proven successful rehabilitative interventions in treating children with DS.

Here is a big section of the discussion section of the paper. Basically, Standard Occupational Therapy (SOT) helps Down Syndrome (DS) kids do better on fine and gross motor skills. Using Virtual Reality Wii seems to help even more. Gotta love that.

Of the two intervention groups, children who received VRWii therapy demonstrated the largest increase in post-intervention scores on the BOT-2 gross motor subtests. Significant improvement in gross motor function may be accounted for by the accumulated effects from a series of training steps that are structured, progressive, goal-directed, and interrelated. For instance, once the child initially learned to maintain equilibrium on VRWii Sports items, more challenging dynamic tasks such as jumping, striking and catching balls were introduced. VRWii could allow the child to interact with a computer-simulated environment and receive near real-time augmented feedback on performance. After mastering the VRWii tasks, the child was better able to use body feedback to understand the movement outcomes (feedback), anticipate upcoming events (feedforward), and plan alternative strategies (Brooks, 1986). Simultaneously, the child was encouraged to rely more on internal feedback and self-evaluation of performance than external feedback from others and environment. By adjusting the difficult level of Wii Sport items, more mature patterns of motor control emerged from better use of feedback and feedforward mechanisms.

The VRWii group achieved the greatest progress primarily in the BOT-2 fine motor subtests as well. A probable explanation is that success with skilled fine motor tasks relies upon sophisticated motor control and higher-level motor planning. The nature of VRWii therapy promotes an optimal sensory intake by allowing the child to actively explore and organize diverse sensory inputs. An overall improved organization of sensory input may subsequently enhance motor planning and sequencing ability, thereby leading to the improvement in fine motor skills (Humphries, Wright, Snider, & McDougall, 1992). In addition, the improvement in hand function also depended on the child’s ability to modify the patterns of grasping Wii handle according to the different somatosensory input from diverse VRWii Sport items. An essential component of all extremities movements experienced in VRWii Sports is proactive visual and somatosensory control ([Augurelle et al., 2003], Jeannerod, 1986 M. Jeannerod, The formation of finger grip during prehension: A cortically mediated visuomotor pattern, Behavior and Brain Research 19 (1986), pp. 99–116. Abstract | PDF (1331 K) | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (130)[Jeannerod, 1986] and [Jeannerod, 1990]), which is responsible for the correct execution of limb movement and the coordination between limbs and vision ([Johansson, 1996] and [Whitney and Wrisley, 2004]). Therefore, tasks involved with visual motor integration of VMI and BOT-2 were also improved by VRWii.

Unexpectedly, the VRWii group alone demonstrated larger increase in all TSIF subtest scores post intervention than SOT that included sensory integration therapy. This result offers direct evidence that children with DS are able to benefit from VRWii therapy to optimize the integrated processing of sensory cues and motor responses. VRWii itself could provide constant opportunities for children to integrate visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs. In particular, significant gains in emotion and behavior subtest of the TSIF after VRWii intervention implies that the playfulness inherent in the VRWii items was able to tap into the children’s inner drive to engage with VRWii therapy. By actively participating in the goal-directed and enjoyable activities, the therapeutic effects could be maximized ([Larin, 2000] and [Parham and Mailloux, 2010]), and the psychosocial needs of children were fulfilled as well (Tye & Tye, 1992). The principle of Wii by using self-initiation, meaningful, and challenging activities in increasing neural plasticity coincided with the principles of sensory integration theory proposed by Ayres ([Ayres, 1972] and [Jacobs and Schenider, 2001]).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. not holding a press conference on Monday

9 Apr

My guess is that you are reading this thinking: this is news? Doesn’t pretty much every day go by without Robert F. Kennedy holding a press conference? Well, yes. But there was a press conference planned for Monday. Yes, the man who brought you “Deadly Immunity” (an article promoting the mercury/autism link that was so flawed that it was retracted by Salon.com and quietly removed from the Rolling Stone website) has something so new and important that he wants to tell the world about it from in front of the White House.

The subject? A study purportedly showing that many autistic kids have been compensated over the years by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (a fact that has been public knowledge for 9 years or more). The article, under review by his University’s law journal, appears to be the one which was touted as ongoing a few years ago (I recall this being on a piece by David Kirby on the Huffington Post before he focused on his new project of food safety).

That press conference, from what I’ve heard, has been put off until after the paper is actually accepted and published.

Here’s the background history:

1) The US adopts a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the mid-late 1980’s.

2) Autistic kids are amongst those compensated.

3) The concept of a vaccine-induced autism epidemic gains momentum in the late 1990’s.

4) Enough cases are submitted to the Program that an Omnibus proceeding is started to cover all the cases.

5) The first item added to the docket, Autism General Order #1, tells attorneys to be aware that autistics with table injuries should be handled outside the Omnibus for faster processing. (year 2002)

One important caveat, however, is drawn to the attention of all petitioners and their counsel! There may be cases involving autistic-like disorders which manifested following an injury defined in the Vaccine Injury Table. That is, a vaccine may have suffered an episode involving a severe acute encephalopathy within 72 hours after a pertussis vaccination (DTP or DTaP), or 5 to 15 days after an MMR vaccination. If so, such an acute encephalopathy and any residual effects thereof would be presumed to be vaccine-caused pursuant to the Vaccine Injury Table.

and

Autism cases involving Table Injuries have been compensated under the Program. If in a particular case there exist medical records demonstrating that such a qualifying “acute encephalopathy” occurred within the appropriate time frame, petitioner or counsel should bring that to the assigned special master’s attention so that, if appropriate, the case can be processed without delay as a Table Injury.

6) The government concedes Hannah Poling’s case as a table injury (late 2007) and the Hannah Poling concession was leaked while still in process. (Feb. 2008).

7) Given the news focus generated, then Chief Special Master Gary Golkiewicz was quoted:

“Years ago, actually, I had a case, before we understood or knew the implications of autism, that the vaccine injured the child’s brain caused an encephalopathy,” he said. And the symptoms that come with that “fall within the broad rubric of autism.”

And there are other somewhat similar cases, Golkiewicz says, that were decided before autism and its symptoms were more clearly defined.

8) Kathleen Siedel found a number of cases which were in the public record involving vaccine injury cases compensated. This list then appeared in many places, including a journal paper.

9) it was signaled that a new study was in the works where the prevalence of autism was notably higher amongst people compensated in the vaccine-injury program.

10) The autism prevalence estimate in the US was increased to 1 in 100, up from 1 in 150. Whether this had an impact on the apparent delay of (9) I can’t say.

Short form: we’ve been waiting for years for the study which will show us that the fraction of kids compensated by the Court is higher than expected. Now it appears that the study is in process and in a law journal. And that Robert F. Kennedy wanted to tell us all about it on Monday. But that won’t happen now, apparently. Apparently even law journals have embargoes.

Even though the press conference seems to be canceled for now, I guess that sometime in the near future Robert F. Kennedy will confirm what is and has been public knowledge. This will be followed by a blog storm acting as though this is news. Perhaps I’ll be surprised and something new will be in the announcement.

So far, the fraction of children with ASD diagnoses who have been compensated by the Autism Omnibus Proceeding is 1 in 838. This isn’t a fair estimate of what the final fraction will be, as many of those cases dismissed are for procedural issues like failure to prosecute and timeliness of filing. For that one compensated case, there is the note:

*May include case(s) that were originally filed and processed as an OAP cases but in which the final adjudication does not include a finding of vaccine-related autism.

**HHS has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination.

IACC meeting on Monday…or not

8 Apr

The IACC has a meeting scheduled for Monday. But, if the US Government shuts down due to budget negotiations, it won’t happen. A great example of good work being sacrificed for politics. I don’t

Reminder: Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Full Committee Meeting

PLEASE NOTE THAT IN THE CASE OF A GOVERNMENT CLOSURE, THIS MEETING WILL NOT TAKE PLACE AND WILL NEED TO BE RESCHEDULED

Please join us for an IACC Full Committee meeting that will take place on Monday, April 11, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET in Washington, DC. Onsite registration will begin at 8:00a.m.

Agenda: The meeting will feature special presentations and activities to celebrate HHS Autism Awareness Month. The IACC will also discuss committee business items including the 2010 Summary of Advances and the 2009 Portfolio Analysis. The agenda is posted at: http://iacc.hhs.gov/events/2011/full-committee-mtg-agenda-April11.shtml.

Meeting location:
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
The Polaris Room
Washington, DC 20004

The meeting will be open to the public and pre-registration is recommended. Seating will be limited to the room capacity and seats will be on a first come, first served basis, with expedited check-in for those who are pre-registered.

The meeting will be remotely accessible by videocast (http://videocast.nih.gov/) and conference call. Members of the public who participate using the conference call phone number will be able to listen to the meeting, but will not be heard.

Conference Call Access
USA/Canada Phone Number: 888-577-8995

Access code: 1991506

Individuals who participate using this service and who need special assistance, such as captioning of the conference call or other reasonable accommodations, should submit a request to the contact person listed above at least seven days prior to the meeting. If you experience any technical problems with the webcast or conference call, please e-mail IACCTechSupport@acclaroresearch.com or call the IACC Technical Support Help Line at 443-680-0098.

Please visit the IACC Events page for the latest information about the meeting, including registration, remote access information, the agenda, materials and information about other upcoming IACC events.

Contact Person for this meeting is:

Ms. Lina Perez
Office of Autism Research Coordination
National Institute of Mental Health, NIH
6001 Executive Boulevard, NSC
Room 8185a
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: 301-443-6040
E-mail: IACCpublicinquiries@mail.nih.gov

Reconsidering the Nature of Autism

8 Apr

Todd Drezner has a new piece up on the Huffington Post: Reconsidering the Nature of Autism. He starts out by quoting the forward to one of Jenny McCarthy’s books. The forward is by alternative medical practitioner Jerry Kartzinel.

Here is what Mr. Drezner wrote in his introduction:

“Autism … steals the soul from a child; then, if allowed, relentlessly sucks life’s marrow out of the family members, one by one.” So wrote Dr. Jerry Kartzinel in the introduction to Jenny McCarthy’s bestselling “Louder Than Words.” No wonder, then, that the concept of neurodiversity– the idea that we should understand and accept autistic people as a group that thinks differently from the majority — has proven to be so controversial.

The quote takes me back. Back to when I was starting to look online for information about autism. I remember when Jenny McCarthy hit the scene. Kev responded here with his blogging. The blog might have been kevleitch.co.uk then, not LeftBrainRightBrain. I remember that Kev’s blog went down: the traffic was so high that he hit his bandwidth quota. I remember that he responded to the forward from Jerry Kartzinel. He responded with words and, a little later, with video:

I don’t bring this up just for some sort of nostalgia. But this reminds me of two major themes. First: words hurt. What Dr. Kartzinel wrote, and Jenny McCarthy published, hurt. It hurt a lot of people. It added to the stigma of autism and disability. Second: words can be powerful. Kev fought back, as did many others. How or if this was an influence on Todd Drezner, I can’t say. It influenced me as I still remember it.

We can’t sit back and let people stigmatize others, for whatever reason they may have. Kim Wombles shows that almost every day with her blog Countering. Bev did it with a humor and keen perspective on Asperger Square 8. Corina Becker is taking up the task with No Stereotypes Here. And this is just a few of the many voices, autistic and non, out there.

Having said this, I will bring up one message that I’ve felt needed to be countered for some time. Here is a screenshot of a page from the book “the Age of Autism” by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill. Both write for the Age of Autism Blog (Dan Olmsted appears to be the proprietor). Mark Blaxill is a member of the organization SafeMinds. Both promote the idea of autism as vaccine injury and, more specifically, the failed mercury hypothesis. (click to enlarge)

To pull but one disturbing quote: “As one of the first parents to observe an autistic child, Muncie learned how well autism targets ‘those functions distinctly human’ “. Yes, I have spent quite a lot of time fighting bad science like the first part in that sentence: the idea that autism is new/the kids in Kanner’s study were the first autistics ever. But what about the second part: that autistics are missing or have impaired “distinctly human” functions? Yes, I’ve also responded to that sentiment in the past and I plan to continue to do so. And that is much more important than the fight against bad science.

Words hurt. Jerry Kartzinel’s words hurt. Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill’s words hurt. They hurt and they are wrong. Plain and simple.

Another phrase from the above paragraph: “autism brutally restricts the interests of the affected”. So say the team that has one interest: pushing mercury in vaccines as a cause of autism. A little ironic?

Reading their writing, I am reminded of one of Bev’s amazing videos:

Back to the paragraph from “The Age of Autism”. Dan, Mark: You don’t think autistics made tools, explored the globe, invented new technologies? The sad thing is, it seems like you don’t.

Yeah, a lot of kids, kids like mine, aren’t in the world explorer/inventor categories. And even kids like mine are still as human as you or I. They are not missing anything “distinctly human”.

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