IOM Workshop on Autism and Environment Proceedings Available
October 27, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
The Institute of Medicine held a Workshop on Environment on April 18th. You can pre-order the proceedings as a book or (as I did) download them as a PDF file (over 300 pages in uncorrected page proofs). From the introduction:
Read this free online
The goal of the workshop was to provide a venue to bring together scientists, members of the autism community, and the major sponsors of autism-related research to discuss the most promising scientific opportunities….The focus was on improving the understanding of the ways in which environmental factors such as chemicals, infectious agents, or physiological or psychological stress can affect the development of the brain. In addition, discussions addressed the infrastructure needs for pursuing the identified research opportunities—tools, technologies, and partnerships.
The bulk of the Proceedings is a transcript of what was discussed, as well as an Index of Scientific Opportunities for Human Subjects Research identified by individual workshop speakers and participants (and not “adopted, endorsed, or verified”). Also included is the workshop agenda and a list of workshop participants, including members of the National Autism Association, Safe Minds, and other biomedical groups who have long raised concerns about “something in the environment” causing autism, and whose views are threaded throughout the workshop’s agenda: Mark Blaxill, who is the Vice President of Safe Minds, was on the Planning Committee for the workshop, and Lyn Redwood, who is the President of Safe Minds and on the National Autism Association’s Board of Directors, is listed as an “Independent Report Reviewer.”
I’m reading and will be posting more.
Well, I think it sucks that the IOM prefers to get input from conspiracy theorists rather than, say, autistic persons.
And conspiracy theorists are both at the planning and review ends of the process.
It’s totally frustrating the way some of these gov’t entities bend over backwards for the mercury crew. And not only that, but the mercury crew is always telling the tale that they represent “the parents”. I gotta wonder if ‘the powers that be’ are even remotely aware that there are many, many parents who consider Blaxill and Redwood to be out of their friggin’ minds.