The war on Tom Insel and the IACC

23 Oct

Tom Insel is director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) but he is better known to readers of this blog as the chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. If you read other autism blogs, he’s probably very well known to you, as he has been the target of a concerted attack from the vaccines-cause-autism groups for a few months now. They even got the publicist, David Kirby, to take their battle to the public in a CBS interview.

Let me take a moment to make a side point. The vaccines-cause-autism groups (SafeMinds, Generation Rescue, the National Autism Association, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)…I’m probably missing one or two), are basically a single consortium as evidenced by their single blog and their shared membership. I don’t see the need to treat them as separate entities. I really don’t see that they should be given multiple representations on the IACC.

I’ve been watching the IACC pretty closely for some time. I’ve also been watching the vaccines-cause-autism consortium. I’ve been watching the consortium build pressure against Dr. Insel.

One thing I’ve noticed: this level of pressure directed at Dr. Insel wasn’t always the case. Less than a year ago, Dr. Insel was not their target.

Take a look at one of the classic pieces of IACC intimidation: a piece called “Grinkers Stinker“. This is dated January, 2008. It was timed to coincide with a 4-day workshop that was the kick-off for the Strategic Plan process.

“Grinker’s Stinker” was a piece about the Dr. Joyce Chung, the former IACC coordinator. She is the wife of Prof. Roy Richard Grinker, anthropologist and author of the book Unstrange Minds. Dr. Grinker has publicly stated that he accepts the scientific consensus that vaccines did not cause an epidemic of autism. Dr. Chung has made no public statements (at least that I can find), but the lack of actual information about her or her opinions didn’t stop a blog post decrying her position on the IACC. From the blog post:

Does Joyce Chung agree with her husband? Did they ask her this question before she took the job?

Oddly, the last comment to that blog piece, by Generation Rescue’s “DC Liason” Kelli Ann Davis, starts with the question, “Can I suggest that we try and put an end to all the mudslinging?”

History has proven that, no, the Age of Autism can’t put an end to the mudslinging. Unfortunate, that.

Take a look at the blog post. There is no mention of Dr. Insel. No one decrying his “lack of leadership”, no one claiming “collusion” or “malfeasance”. None of the mudslinging terms currently used against members of the IACC, especially Dr. Insel. In fact, the first mention of Dr. Insel is in the comment by Ms. Davis. In her comment Ms. Davis suggests that Dr. Insel will be watching out for conflicts of interest.

Times certainly have changed. The Age of Autism likes to demonize those it disagrees with, and Dr. Insel certainly has been a recent target.

What happened?

Dr. Insel (a) had the IACC reconsider an initiative to call for a vaccine-autism study to be included in the Strategic Plan and (b) spoke before a congressional hearing about why vaccine/autism studies are not a high priority.

Not surprising to many of the readers here, I am sure, the vaccines-cause-autism consortium have a single issue (vaccines). As long as Dr. Insel’s position on vaccine/autism research, there was hope for the consortium and they left him alone. Once his current opinion formed and was public, he was public enemy number one. Yes, Dr. Paul Offit (vaccinologist and outspoken critic of the notion that vaccines cause autism) has been superseded.

Recently, Dan Olmsted (owner of the Age of Autism website) called for Dr. Insel to resign. Again, it boils down to the single issue: vaccines.

So, here we are. The vaccines-cause-autism consortium has declared war on Tom Insel for opposing their single-item agenda. If you think “war” is too strong a word, take it up with Mr. Olmsted. In referring to the recent incident where notes from an IACC member were made public:

…notes dropped on the floor (see the notes here) at the IACC, recovered by friendly forces and reported on our blog…

Yes, the Age of Autism people are “friendly forces”.

Here’s my perspective on Dr. Insel, for whatever it may be worth. He is the chair of the IACC. In my opinion, his role is to run the meetings and manage the staff. He should be getting good people in to serve on the IACC and the subcommittees and good people to consult on the topics that are discussed. Basically, his role is that of a facilitator–get good people together with the tools they need to do their job. He needs to be knowledgeable enough on the subject (autism) to do this.

You know what? Given the fact that his full time job is director of the NIMH, he’s actually done a pretty good job.

Is there room for improvement? Heck yeah. How about putting a greater emphasis on research into the needs of autistic adults? The majority of autistics are adults. And yet only 5% of the funding is being applied to this critical area.

But, of course, the squeaky wheels (the vaccines-cause-autism consortium in this case) get the grease. The squeaky wheels have been calling for research into environmental causes of autism. Tens of millions of dollars are being focused on this. Why are the squeaky wheels unhappy? Because the squeaky wheels didn’t really mean “environmental causes”. That was only a code word for vaccines.

This level of tension is not just sad. It is detrimental to the progress of the IACC. There are a lot of autistics, parents, professionals and organizations who are interested in working with the IACC. Why spend any more effort on the groups that have declared war?

(note, I made a number of changes in this piece shortly after publishing it)

Gentle autistic man murdered

22 Oct

If someone says, “there’s a murder in the news and an autistic is involved”, what is the image that comes to mind for most people?

This story from the Sacramento (California) Bee: Slain student was “gentle, sometimes a target,” dad says..

There are some autistics who are non aggressive to the point of being unable to defend themselves. It sounds like Scott Gregory Hawkins might fall into that category. He was beaten to death with a baseball bat by his roommate.

“I would say that he was just very gentle, sweet, unassuming, kind of sometimes a little goofy, and he was kind of a nerdy kid who really loved his studies,” his father said.

Scott loved history and wanted to be an educator.

Landmark autism law passed today

22 Oct

The Autism Bill passed its final stage in the House of Lords today to become England’s first ever disability-specific law. The National Autistic Society (NAS) heralded the new law as ‘groundbreaking’ and said health and social care services could now face legal action if they failed to provide support for people with the condition, which affects over half a million people in the UK. The Autism Bill started out as a Private Members’ Bill drafted by the NAS on behalf of a coalition of autism charities and was championed through Parliament by Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan. It has had support from all parties.

Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS, said:

“Thousands of adults with autism told us they were experiencing serious mental health difficulties due to a lack of support. After a year of lobbying, this is the watershed moment they have been waiting for – this law could literally transform lives. It will add serious weight to the forthcoming adult autism strategy so now we’ll be keeping the pressure up on Government to make sure they get it right and deliver lasting change for people with this serious, lifelong and disabling condition.”

“I’d like to thank everyone for their support. It is extremely rare that a Private Members’ Bill goes on to become law, so this is a triumph for people with autism and their families. It’s a real testament to the overwhelming level of parliamentary support for this chronically excluded group. I hope it will make the crucial difference in their lives that people with autism need and deserve. We’d like to thank Cheryl Gillan MP and the thousands of autism campaigners, MPs and peers for their support – together we have made legal history.”

Once it receives Royal Assent the Bill will officially become the Autism Act. Under the new law the Government’s forthcoming adult autism strategy will be legally enforceable and must be published within the next six months. New responsibilities the NHS and local authorities will be expected to fulfil will include providing diagnostic services for adults with autism and better training for health and social care staff.

The NAS is also calling for the strategy to tackle the woeful number of people with autism in employment. New research for the charity’s Don’t Write Me Off campaign, launched last week, found that a third of people with autism – that’s over 100,000 – currently live without a job and worryingly without benefits.

The Autism Act was backed by

  • The National Autistic Society,
  • Wirral Autistic Society,
  • Autism Research Centre,
  • TreeHouse,
  • Hampshire Autistic Society,
  • Staffordshire Adults Autistic Society,
  • Research Autism,
  • Autism Anglia,
  • The Wessex Autistic Society,
  • Autism Education Trust,
  • Autism Speaks,
  • Autism West Midlands,
  • Autism in Mind,
  • Autism Initiatives,
  • Sussex Autistic Community Trust
  • Tyne and Wear Autistic Society.

I hope everyone will join with me in congratulating the NAS and their partner organizations and all their supporters who have campaigned and lobbied to make this possible.

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It’s time to stop the intimidation tactics towards the IACC

21 Oct

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is group of government employees and autism community stakeholders who are chartered with coordinating research activities within the U.S. government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The official charter is:

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (Committee) shall coordinate all efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services concerning autism spectrum disorder to combat autism through research, screening, intervention and education. The Committee’s primary mission is to facilitate the efficient and effective exchange of information on autism activities among the member agencies, and to coordinate autism-related programs and initiatives. The Committee will serve as a forum and assist in increasing public understanding of the member agencies’ activities, programs, policies, and research, and in bringing important matters of interest forward for discussion.

The IACC predates the Combating Autism Act (CAA), but has taken on the role of coodination and strategic planning for the CAA.

This is no small effort. We are talking about a group that helps to set the goals for about $100M in research funding a year. The U.S. government’s research efforts into autism are the largest in the world. The research portfolio covers causation through supports for autistic adults.

I don’t think I will surprise anyone when I say that the autism communities, like any communities, have many different ideas of what focus should be placed on autism research. I would also expect little argument that the loudest voice in that discussion comes from the groups promoting the notion that vaccines caused an autism epidemic. Most of these groups are sponsors of the Age of Autism blog.

These groups lobbied hard to get vaccine research included in the Combating Autism Act. The failed. They did manage to get some senators to mention vaccines in the “colloquy“. These were statements made by senators when the Act was passed. Basically, these are speeches, not law. These statements were also not very strong. Consider this statement by Senator Enzi:

However, I want to be clear that, for the purposes of biomedical research, no research avenue should be eliminated, including biomedical research examining potential links between vaccines, vaccine components, and autism spectrum disorder. Thus, I hope that the National Institutes of Health will consider broad research avenues into this critical area, within the Autism Centers of Excellence as well as the Centers of Excellence for Environmental Health and Autism. No stone should remain unturned in trying to learn more about this baffling disorder, especially given how little we know.

The strongest argument that can be made is that three senators made a nonbinding statement that the National Institutes of Health should “consider” research on vaccines.

The Combating Autism Act was signed over three years ago. Since that time it has become even more clear that vaccines are not a primary cause of autism. The two major theories that the MMR vaccine or that Thimerosal cause autism have been shown to have very little scientific basis. Both were discussed at length in the Autism Omnibus Proceedings. The MMR causation theory has already been rejected as “not even close” and upheld by three separate appellate judges. The thimerosal theory has not been decided as yet, but the science was no better than that used for MMR. I expect that the Thimerosal theory will suffer the same fate as the MMR theory.

The number of people applying to the “vaccine court” for compensation for autism peaked six years ago. 2,437 families petitioned the Court for hearings alleging autism as a vaccine injury in 2003. In 2008 that number shrank to 253. The vaccines-cause-autism theory is clearly losing ground even within the autism community.

That doesn’t mean that the vaccines-cause-autism organizations are giving up. Quite the opposite. They are ratcheting up the pressure, focusing on individuals.

I actually find it hard to consider the vaccine/autism groups to be separate entities. These groups are SafeMinds, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), the Autism Research Institute (ARI), Generation Rescue, and The National Autism Association (NAA). They do vary in their approaches to some topics. For example, TACA and Generation Rescue put more resources into direct contact with families than, say, SafeMinds. But, when it comes to lobbying about vaccines, they are pretty much a single organization, sharing a significant amount of key personnel.

These organizations are represented on the IACC by Lyn Redwood of SafeMinds. The grassroots activist efforts of the organizations is coordinated through their blog, the Age of Autism. It is a particularly clever and effective construct: the advocacy organizations can claim to be separate from the particularly nasty rhetoric of their own blog. As a separate entity, the finances of the Age of Autism blog will not be made public.

That all said, the Age of Autism should be considered the voice of these organizations and the actions coordinated on that blog are the actions of its parent organizations.

I can understand why groups such as SafeMinds or Generation Rescue would want to be able to claim some distance from the Age of Autism (AoA). AoA is used to coordinate serious intimidation efforts.

The recent departure of Dr. Story Landis from the IACC was engineered by AoA. They found notes made during an IACC meeting and planned a surprise attack to coincide with an IACC meeting. As an ironic twist, AoA got someone sympathetic to their cause to resign the IACC.

AoA has also targeted IACC member Yvette M. Janvier, M.D., twisting her words “the idea that autistic kids are sick offends me!” into “I am offended by sick autistic kids”.

AoA launched an attack on IACC coordinator Joyce Chung. This coincided with a week long IACC meeting to iron out the Strategic Plan. Her “crime”? She is married to Richard Grinker, author of Unstrange Minds. Dr. Grinker is public in his belief that there has not been an epidemic of vaccine-induced autism, a belief held by the vast majority of the autism research community. What does Dr. Chung have to say publicly on the subject? Nothing as far as I can see. What actions did she take that warranted an attack? None.

The good people at AoA have attempted legal intimidation as well. They got a Congressional Oversight Committee to investigate the IACC. When that didn’t pan out, they sought “legal advice” on alleged FACA violations. No word on what, if anything, became of that effort either. The Age of Autism isn’t shy about touting their attacks. It would seem safe to assume this one failed.

AoA has recently set their sights on the IACC’s chair, Dr. Tom Insel. I am sure this came as no surprise to Dr. Insel. Earlier this year he called for a re-vote on a proposal to add a vaccine study to the IACC’s Strategic Plan, and later made public statements in a congressional hearing that there wasn’t enough data to warrant a vaccine-autism study.

Other than being bold enough to discuss the view held by the vast majority of autism researchers, what is Dr. Insel’s greatest crime? His brother invented a vaccine. Yes, Dr. Richard Insel helped develop a vaccine for Haemophilus influenza B (Hib). This vaccine has been quite effective in reducing Hib infections. But, any contact with vaccine research or company is considered a fatal conflict of interest to the bloggers at the Age of Autism.

I’m sure that there is more going on behind the scenes.

If this were all to the story, it would be sad but uninteresting. Unfortunately, there is fallout from all of this intimidation. I already know that good researchers have avoided autism as a subject in order to avoid the groups represented by the Age of Autism. I suspect that good people are avoiding participating in the IACC meetings as well. But, the most direct fallout is that the IACC members are unable to speak their minds on the subject of vaccines. Beyond vaccines, they have to live in fear of any possible infraction of the rules or any statement that could be misinterpreted will be used against them. A prime example was given above where “the idea that autistic kids are sick offends me!” was warped into “I am offended by sick autistic kids”.

If this were some minor, make-work bureaucratic committee with no real impact I wouldn’t care. But this is the group that sets the plan for the largest autism research in the world. Not only is this sort of intimidation a crime in general, it is hurting my kid’s chances at a better life.

It is time for the intimidation to stop. The Age of Autism bloggers should learn a lesson from their recent, childish attack. Acting out without thinking can hurt even them. This event is being noticed. Both the journals Nature and Science have blog posts about this recent debacle. The Simons Foundation interviewed the director of the NIH on the subject.

I’ll say it again: it is time for the intimidation to stop.

The myth that the IACC doesn’t support environmental causation research

21 Oct

Say a lie often enough and people will believe you. That is the strategy over at the Age of Autism blog, and for the organizations that sponsor it.

One of their favorite lies is the idea that the IACC (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee) doesn’t support research into environmental causes of autism.

We are lucky that the IACC has published their research portfolio, showing not only the budgeted amounts, but the amounts committed so far. Below is page 11 from this document, for “Question 3. What Caused This to Happen and Can This Be Prevented?”

Question 3. What Caused This to Happen and Can This Be Prevented?
3.1 Initiate studies on at least five environmental factors identified in the recommendations from the 2007 IOM report “Autism and the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities for Research” as potential causes of ASD by 2010. IACC Recommended Budget: $23,600,000 over 2 years. 2008 research funding $7,600,673

3.2 Coordinate and implement the inclusion of approximately 20,000 subjects for genome-wide association studies, as well as a sample of 1,200 for sequencing studies to examine more than 50 candidate genes by 2011. IACC Recommended Budget: $43,700,000 over 4 years. 2008 research funding $4,065,392

3.3 Within the highest priority categories of exposures for ASD, identify and standardize at least three measures for identifying markers of environmental exposure in biospecimens by 2011. IACC Recommended Budget: $3,500,000 over 3 years. 2008 research funding $713,227

3.4 Initiate efforts to expand existing large case-control and other studies to enhance capabilities for targeted gene – environment research by 2011. IACC Recommended Budget: $27,800,000 over 5 years. 2008 research funding $4,603,867

3.5 Enhance existing case-control studies to enroll broad ethnically diverse populations affected by ASD by 2011. IACC Recommended Budget: $3,300,000 over 5 years. 2008 research funding $184,628

3.6 Determine the effect of at least five environmental factors on the risk for subtypes of ASD in the pre- and early postnatal period of development by 2015. IACC Recommended Budget: $25,100,000 over 7 years. 2008 research funding $1,803,628

3.7 Conduct a multi-site study of the subsequent pregnancies of 1,000 women with a child with ASD to assess the impact of environmental factors in a period most relevant to the progression of ASD by 2014. IACC Recommended Budget: $11,100,000 over 5 years. 2008 research funding $2,742,999

3.8 Identify genetic risk factors in at least 50% of people with ASD by 2014. IACC Recommended Budget: $33,900,000 over 6 years. 2008 research funding $36,966,711

3.9 Support ancillary studies within one or more large-scale, population-based surveillance and epidemiological studies, including U.S. populations, to collect nested, case-control data on environmental factors during preconception, and during prenatal and early postnatal development, as well as genetic data, that could be pooled (as needed), to analyze targets for potential gene/environment interactions by 2015. IACC Recommended Budget: $44,400,000 over 5 years. 2008 research funding $17,297,788

Adding those topics funding environmental causation and gene-environment causation, I get a budget of $135,500,000 for six topics.

Summing the gene only projects (3.2 and 3.8) I get $77,600,000, for two projects.

Yes, about 60% of the causation budget is on environment and gene-environment mechanisms.

Why isn’t the Age of Autism blog writing about this? Why aren’t Generation Rescue, SafeMinds, the National Autism Association…all of the “environmental causation” organizations happy with this level of funding?

Why isn’t Lyn Redwood, IACC member and SafeMinds co-founder claiming a huge victory? How about Mark Blaixill, who is on an IACC subcommittee, and is also a member of SafeMinds? Why isn’t he discussing this?

The reason is obvious, to me at least. There isn’t a specific project calling for research into vaccines.

Guess what, there isn’t anything ruling out vaccine research either.

If the vaccines-cause-autism groups want to call for transparency in the process, why don’t they practice it? Why are they hiding information from the autism community? Do they actually care about environmental causation aside from vaccines? It doesn’t seem like it to this observer.

NIH director on the lack of trust within the autism community

20 Oct

This video is taken from the Simons Foundation blog. The Simons Foundation was able to get NIH Director Francis Collins to make a statement about the resignation of Story Landis from theIACC .

I am impatient for answers. If there were any good evidence that vaccines were causal in autism, I’d be pushing for research on that subject.

As Dr. Collins notes, we should not assume that there is “just one path” that will get us to the truth. I would assert that it is precisely the vaccine/autism organizations who can’t leave behind their one path. We need to move forward, not spin our wheels in the same place that hasn’t proven fruitful for the past 10 years. It’s time to move beyond vaccines.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7156587&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=6854a1&fullscreen=1

Neurodiverse intimidation

20 Oct

A recent comment on this blog used this video as an example of how the Neurodiverse community uses “intimidation”. Take a look for yourself:

video below

I thank Mr. Crosby for bringing this video to my attention. It is awesome. I also appreciate the opportunity to see what people mean when they make claims that the neurodiverse community. What others label “intimidation” is to me–and I bet to the almost everyone who would watch this video–as a very respectful presentation by a well spoken person.

Wired Magazine: an epidemic of fear

20 Oct

Amy Wallace has written her first piece for Wired Magazine, and it is sure to draw a lot of attention. The article, An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All, covers a lot of ground. The main focus is basically an extended interview with Dr. Paul Offit.

Just in case there are any readers who haven’t heard of Dr. Offit, he is an infectious disease specialist, co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, and outspoken critic of the idea that vaccines caused an autism epidemic. Or, as Ms. Wallace writes in her introduction, “To hear his enemies talk, you might think Paul Offit is the most hated man in America.”

Orac, over at Respectful Insolence, has already blogged the article.

The piece points out the very real dangers of vaccine preventable diseases. It also discusses briefly some of the luminaries of the anti-vaccine movement: people like Jenny McCarthy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his deeply flawed article in Rolling Stone, Barbara Loe Fisher…unfortunately it is a long list.

Ms. Wallace also discusses autism’s thriving alternative medical community. Search for “Enter the snake oil salesmen” if you want to find that section quickly. Ms. Wallace attended an Autism One conference and reports on her findings.

In discussing how the membership in the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has changed from mostly medical and vaccine professionals to mostly epidemiologists and public health professionals, Ms. Wallace writes:

That’s not by accident. According to science journalist Michael Specter, author of the new book Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives, the controversy surrounding vaccine safety has made lack of expertise a requirement when choosing members of prominent advisory panels on the issue. “It’s shocking,” Specter says. “We live in a country where it’s actually a detriment to be an expert about something.” When expertise is diminished to such an extent, irrationality and fear can run amok.

Dr. Offit makes a very good point in the article about risk:

“The choice not to get a vaccine is not a choice to take no risk,” he says. “It’s just a choice to take a different risk, and we need to be better about saying, ‘Here’s what that different risk looks like.’ Dying of Hib meningitis is a horrible, ugly way to die.”

Unfortunately, we now have highly visible doctors like “Doctor Bob” Sears who recommend that people who don’t vaccinate “hide in the herd” so to speak. He tells people in his book that if they don’t vaccinate they should keep quiet about it so that vaccination rates stay high and their family remains protected by the rest of us who do vaccinate.

While morally reprehensible, Dr. Bob’s advice is accurate. From the Wired story:

The frightening implications of this kind of anecdote were illustrated by a 2002 study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Looking at 3,292 cases of measles in the Netherlands, the study found that the risk of contracting the disease was lower if you were completely unvaccinated and living in a highly vaccinated community than if you were completely vaccinated and living in a relatively unvaccinated community. Why? Because vaccines don’t always take. What does that mean? You can’t minimize your individual risk unless your herd, your friends and neighbors, also buy in.

Wired makes special note of the organizations which are particularly vocal in the “anti-vaccine” message:

Anti-Vaccine Websites

Though many of these organizations would not define themselves as such, these are the most active organizations and websites in the current battle against vaccines:

National Vaccine Information Center
Autism One
Generation Rescue
SafeMinds
Treating Autism
National Autism Association
Autism File

As Orac points out, the Age of Autism blog would fit in well with the above list.

I wish I could bet on the criticisms that are headed towards Dr. Offit after this article. I’m fairly confident I can pick out the paragraphs that will be focused upon.

If you read the article, you will understand this: Bonnie, thanks for loaning us your husband. He is a true friend to children.

Federal judge stops IHSS cuts in California

20 Oct

California is facing severe budget shortfalls. High on the chopping block for cost-cutting are services to the disabled.

One form of support is IHSS (In Home Supportive Services).

The IHSS Program will help pay for services provided to you so that you can remain safely in your own home. To be eligible, you must be over 65 years of age, or disabled, or blind. Disabled children are also eligible for IHSS. IHSS is considered an alternative to out-of-home care, such as nursing homes or board and care facilities.

Here is an update from CDCAN, the California Disability Community Action Network.

OAKLAND, CALIF (CDCAN) [Updated 10/19/09 12:10 PM (Pacific Time)- Federal District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland blocked the state from implementing cuts to eligibility and services under the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program,
granting a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys representing persons who receive In-Home Supportive Services, saying from the bench that substantial harm, damage and injury which would result if the cuts went forward.

The judge’s order represented a sweeping major victory for advocates for persons with Disabilities, mental health needs, the blind, low income seniors, their families, IHSS Workers and advocacy groups.

The judge’s order blocks the State from implementing major cuts to eligibility based on a person’s “functional index score” and reductions in domestic and related services based on a person’s “functional index rankings”.

Judge Wilken said that the State’s use of the “functional index rankings” and “functional index scores” were clearly not based on need, that essential services could be withdrawn arbitrarily, and that “people could lose something irreplaceable – the ability to remain safely in their homes.”

The judge issued her injunction that stopped the cuts from going forward as scheduled Because she believed that the plaintiffs – the persons with disabilities and others who filed the lawsuit were likely to win in a the trial that the cuts to services under IHSS using the “functional index score” and “functional index rankings” as the basis to make cuts to eligibility and domestic and related services violated federal law. The judge denied a request (motion) from the State to “stay” (delay effect date of her injunction) until her ruling can be appealed (“staying” her injunction would have allowed the cuts to go forward until the case could be heard in the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals)

The judge issued her ruling from the bench from a two hour hearing this morning.

More details later today.

In other words–the cuts to IHSS are on hold during the state’s appeal. The alternative, make the cuts while the state appeals, would have surely meant that some people would have lost their ability to stay “in home”.

Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children with and without Autism

19 Oct

New paper, just out from the U.C. Davis MIND Institute: Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children with and without Autism.

The Authors are

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Peter G. Green, Lora Delwiche, Robin Hansen, Cheryl Walker, and Isaac N. Pessah.

Abstract:
Background: Some studies have reported higher blood Hg levels in persons with autism, relative to unaffected controls. Objectives: To compare blood total Hg concentrations in children with autism or autism spectrum disorder (AU/ASD) and typically developing (TD) controls in population-based samples; to determine the role of fish consumption in differences observed.

Methods: The Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study enrolled children aged 2-5 years. After diagnostic evaluation, we analyzed three groups: AU/ASD; non-AU/ASD with developmental delay, DD; and population-based TD controls. Mothers were interviewed about household, medical and dietary exposures. Blood Hg was measured by ICP-MS. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted (n=452) to predict blood Hg from case status controlling for Hg sources.

Results: Fish consumption strongly predicted total Hg concentration. AU/ASD children ate less fish. After adjustment for fish and other Hg sources, blood Hg levels in AU/ASD children were similar to those of TD children (p=0.75); this was also true among non-fish eaters (p=0.73). The direct effect of AU/ASD diagnosis on blood Hg not through the indirect pathway of altered fish consumption was a 12% reduction. DD children had lower blood Hg concentrations in all analyses. Dental amalgams in children with gum-chewing or teeth-grinding habits predicted higher levels.

Conclusions: After accounting for dietary and other differences in Hg exposures, total Hg in blood was neither elevated nor reduced in CHARGE Study preschoolers with AU/ASD as compared with unaffected controls, and resembled those of nationally representative samples.

I don’t have the time to read and summarize the paper yet. But it looks like another nail in the (already nailed down) coffin lid of the mercury hypothesis.

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