James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
Add to the long list of reasons not to support John McCain's bid for the U.S. presidency his inability to distinguish between medical science and ignorant fear-mongering. By accepting the discredited link between vaccines and autism, McCain has shown his judgment falls far short of that required for the head of a modern nation-state. Orac jumped on the story early this morning and I feel compelled to help spread this a widely as possible, in hopes of doing my bit to inoculate the country against the threat posed by a McCain presidency.
Here's what McCain said on Friday night:
"It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates that it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines."As there are no credible scientists saying that, it is fair to conclude that,at best, McCain has surrounded himself with those who are no more in touch with reality than the current crop working in the West Wing.At worse, he's a grossly irresponsible senator who doesn't care about the lives of Americans. And we can't afford another four years of either.McCain said there's "divided scientific opinion" on the matter, with "many on the other side that are credible scientists that are saying that's not the cause of it." (ABC News, Feb. 29)
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Comments
I have a son with autism, and frankly I'd love it if I could find someone to blame. But it seems pretty clear that the vaccine manufacturers aren't responsible.
For that matter, it's not even "indisputable" that autism is "on the rise amongst children." (And why add "amongst children"? Is that to clarify that we're not talking about adult onset autism?)
Posted by: Aaron | March 1, 2008 6:03 PM
My older son has autism. He is 33 years old. We started recognizing signs of strange behavior in him when he was two. We took him to his pediatrician. "Definitely not autistic" was his diagnosis. We had him screened for a preschool special ed program. The screeners included psychologists, social workers, special ed teachers, a speech therapist, and the director of the special ed programs for the city schools. They all said it wasn't autism. No one could tell what it actually was, but it wasn't autism. My son did pretty well in school. He graduated with honors from his high school. But his behavior was still odd. In 1998 I heard of Asperger's Disorder for the first time It described his behavior perfectly. I talked with him about it but he did not have the resources to check it out. He was enlisted in the Army twice. The second time he was in--two years ago--one of his superiors had the insight to send him to a counselor. She said it sounded like he had Pervasive Personality Disorder and she sent him to a child psychologist who concurred. He was given a medical discharge. Because of his disability he can only work low-paying jobs and there are no free resources to help him.
I think one of the real reason the number of diagnoses of autism is on the rise is that it wasn't recognized or accepted until very recently. Earlier a child like my son would just be labelled as not very bright and then shuffled through the school system. In my elementary school there were no kids with learning disorders; they were just the dumb kids who sat in the back of the room who were alternately ignored completely or mocked by the students and teachers for not having the right answer.
Posted by: wrpd | March 1, 2008 6:40 PM
Wrpd, I'm not sure what you mean by your passive-voice description of your son's inability to work high-paying jobs. As far as I know there are no government regulations or medical disqualifications that say "you are not allowed to earn more than X dollars per hour because you're mildly autistic".
If he did well in school, what is holding him back? I know that Asperger's makes certain things, especially social relationships difficult, and that can affect work, but I have a friend with Asperger's who is currently working at a major pharmaceutical company while finishing his PhD, and he's doing quite well for himself. He's even, after a long, hard struggle, managed to build and hold onto a stable romantic relationship for the first time.
I'd be interested to see if you have a clarification for what you meant.
Posted by: Waterdog | March 4, 2008 7:07 AM
When Colin moved to Tennessee last year he went to the State Employment Department. They tested him and told him that he was only qualified to do unskilled labor. When people hear him speak their immediate reaction is that he is mentally challenged, so he often is not given the chance to prove himself. He has been working at a large discount department store for the past year and seems to be doing well. There are chances for advancement. He has been promoted to jobs with more responsibility in the past. He is actually an ideal employee. He's honest to a fault, has high moral standards, is never late, and only calls in sick if he cannot get out of bed.
He has been in a relationship for about seven years. He and the woman in the relationship had been married for two years, then got back together but have not remarried. Once she understood what Colin's problem was her attitude toward him changed--she used to call him stupid a lot. She also has a son who is autistic and she has learned much about autism.
Colin's mother (my wife) was killed in an auto accident when he was eleven, so his life has not been easy at all.
A year before the accident Gannett Television did a show on special ed and Colin was one of the featured kids. He did very well and a lot of people were amazed at how smart he really was.
He is a great guy. I love him and I miss him terribly. I live in California now but we speak to each other by phone once a week.
Posted by: wrpd | March 8, 2008 6:46 PM