Comments on: Now Where Was It You Heard About the Autism Epidemic?

By: Trying to Stay On Topic

Trying to Stay On Topic — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:43:12 +0000

[...] autism gets etched into the public’s mind. This association occurs (and is strengthened by source amnesia) no matter how much scientific evidence (and there has been more recently, concurrent with more [...]

By: Your Health Guide · Environmental Causes of Autism and the Existence of an Autism Epidemic

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:57:25 +0000

[...] can all rest easy now that the rumor of an autism epidemic has been thoroughly discredited by these uh …. giants of science. No need at all for parents [...]

By: MikeO'Neill

MikeO'Neill — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:54:09 +0000

I turned off the TV 3.5 years ago..when the media was selling the iraq war. I decided not to use their product. Is there an epidemic? Only one of my 3 kids has it.

By: socal

socal — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:35:16 +0000

I first heard it from Rick ‘TrainWreck’ Rollens. I haven’t believed another word he’s spoken since.

By: Patience

Patience — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:53:34 +0000

Thank you for poining that out, Regan. As we age, our genetics do sometimes change, and that seems to be the case with identical twings as well as anyone else. We have been treating them as actually identical for years, but all the recent research suggests that they are not–to the point that if an identical twin commits a crime, we can determine which twin via genetic testing. I have heard the suggestion of changing the terminology to ’same egg’ twins, which is much more in keeping with reality.

By: Regan

Regan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:42:52 +0000

Harold said,

“Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown.”

- Professor Simon Baron-Cohen
——————————-
Harold, there may very well be an extra-genetic variable, but identical twins are not necessarily genetically identical. That may have been unknown to Dr. Baron-Cohen at the time when he made that statement, since it’s a recent finding.

By: Annie

Annie — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:33:33 +0000

Something about all the autism “epidemic” coverage is making me think of the spate of shark attack stories a few years back. It’s not that there were so many more attacks that year (check the International Shark Attack File site for stats!), it’s just that the media created its own little feeding frenzy.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:03:55 +0000

The epidemic question goes to the very heart of understanding autism and I have also been following autism since college.

By: Synesthesia

Synesthesia — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:37:52 +0000

I can’t remember when I first heard of the “epidemic.”
I’ve been doing research on autism for quite some time, possibly since college and found some great sites in the prespective of people with autism.
I can’t really buy the concept of an epidemic anymore than I buy that vaccines cause autism. I think that point of view gets in the way of completely understanding autism.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:35:40 +0000

Vintage autism t-shirt, that.