Autism Vox 2008 in Review: January
December 28, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
It’s the countdown to the end of 2008 and here is some of what was going on at the beginning of the year:
The trial of Dr. Karen McCarron began on January 7th. On January 16th, McCarron was ruled guilty on all counts. On April 1st, she was sentenced to 36 years in prison for the May 13th suffocation of her then 3-year-old daughter, Katherine “Katie” McCarron.
January also saw the publication of further evidence refuting a link between vaccines and autism, with the publication in the Archives of General Psychiatry on the decline in thimerosal exposure and the continue increase of autism rates. A study in Pediatrics offered further proof that the vaccine-autism hypothesis is a hypothesis. The study showed that ethyl mercury is expelled faster from babies’ bodies than thought, and that there is “…..little chance for a progressive building up of the toxic metal.”
Nonetheless, a new legal drama, Eli Stone, based its first episode around a (highly fictional) case involving a child becoming autistic due to a vaccine. (And what celebrities have to say about science was a constant irritant throughout the year.)
Also, new research on genetics (on chromosome 16 and a test for autism) appeared in January, and throughout the year, with one scientist proposing a unified theory of autism.
I find it interesting that there is a unifying theory of spontaneous mutation for autism. It would explain the epidemic. If only world wide spontaneous mutation were possible.
I also find it interesting that mercury is safe, especially among autistics whose sulfur amino acid chemistry lags behind the normal population.
But this came from the pro-vax side and is not to be questioned?
I think that spontaneous of de novo mutation is a bit different than what it sounds like.
http://www.autismvox.com/sporadic-and-heritable-autism/
Perhaps,
But it still leaves something in the water or since the proper study to compare the autism rate among the unvaxed to the vaxed has never been done, something in the arm?
My frustration with the state of autism research is showing. The medical community has reacted vigorously against the theory of vaccines causing autism. There were legitimate reasons for that theory to surface, but that theory threatened their vaccine program and it faced withering fire from the medical community.
On the other hand, this theory came from the medical community and even though it requires the same mutation to occur in different and separate geographies, it gets friendly press.
I met a doctor whose pet theory was apoptic cell death. Apoptic means that the death was biologically programmed to occur. The only programmed death occurred to his theory.
Then we have the theory that there is no epidemic. It was put forth to fill the vacuum that vaccines keeps filling even though the medical community has proven (to its own satisfaction) that autism and vaccines are not related. The people who put this forward never asked the pediatric neurologists if this made sense. In his book, “Autism and Its Medical Management”, Dr Michael Chez is unequivocal. The rates have changed and there is an epidemic. The don’t ask the military families either. The autism rate among military families is even higher than the 1/160 reported by the CDC. They didn’t ask the CDC either. But no epidemic means that there is no vaccine induced autism epidemic and so it gets friendly press.
I saw a feature article about a San Diego researcher measuring the size of the heads of autistic children against a control group. Naturally there was not enough difference to be useful. How far along is autistic medical research that they would fund phrenology research for autism diagnosis?
Modern medicine has made its pronouncement. There is no relationship between autism and vaccines. As I have outlined above, there is a good case for cynicism. Even without cynicism, any time researchers start with a conclusion and look for its justification, the public should be wary. The statistical experiment to determine if there is a relationship between autism and vaccines is to compare the autism rate among the vaccinated population against the autism rate in a control group i.e. the unvaccinated population. This fundamental experiment has never been done. That is another reason to be wary of the medical community’s pronouncement.
The medical community rails against the charlatans and quacks that are ubiquitous in their pursuit of parents’ money. These quacks and charlatans exist because medical research on autism has been feckless. Modern medicine offers nothing. If you are going to sink money into anything choose ABA or some other behavior modification therapy. While autism is a medical issue, they will not medically treat it. They will only help your child to adjust to his medical condition and that is more help than the medical community can offer.