autism
gregladen | July 13, 2011Siblings of those diagnosed with autism are more than 20 times as likely as members of the general population to also have autism. Some of these siblings also show evidence of autism-like but less marked cognitive and social communication problems. This suggests that autism has either an environmental cause typically found in all siblings during development or childhood or a strong heritable component, but there is not a known genetic link or a well established biological marker. A biological marker other than observed behavioral deficits would be a neurological phenotype such as might be…
oracknows | June 21, 2011Regular readers know that I lived in Chicago for three years in the late 1990s. Indeed, Chicago is probably my favorite city in the world, and my years there count as three of the happiest years of my life. I lived in a cool neighborhood near DePaul in Lincoln Park; never again in my life am I ever likely to live in a place with such a fine mixture of residential houses, businesses, restaurants, bars, and parks. Moreover, I still have family there, which, combined with my knowledge of the city, leads me to continue to feel a connection to the city. It's that connection that guarantees that I…
oracknows | June 12, 2011Here's an excellent video from Down Under on the human costs of the anti-vaccine movement:
It features Viera Scheibner, who has nothing good to say about vaccines and thinks that vaccines are dangerous and infectious diseases in childhood are good.
Simply incredible.
oracknows | June 9, 2011Whenever I call an anti-vaccine activist "anti-vaccine," frequently there will be an indignant response along the lines of either, "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm pro-safe vaccine" or "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm a vaccine safety activist." (This latter retort is a favorite of Barbara Loe Fisher.) Another favorite retort is, "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm for 'informed consent'" or "I'm not 'anti-vaccine'; I'm for freedom!" (Imagine the person saying this looking like this the photo below.)
Anti-vaccine warrior crying "Freedom!!!!! (from vaccines)"
Not infrequently, it doesn't take very long to…
oracknows | June 7, 2011More than a week has passed, and I thought that this cup had passed from me, and I was glad. After all, if I analyzed every crap study done by anti-vaccine zealots to try to demonstrate that vaccines cause autism, I would have time for little else in terms of other kinds of that Insolence you all know and love. This particular study was released in late May and, at the time, I wasn't really in the mood to take it on; so I ignored it. But then wouldn't you know that the Autism Action Network would have to go and send out a press release yesterday entitled New Study Links Vaccines and Autism:…
gregladen | May 31, 2011You must go read the chilling and amusing account of Jamie Bernstein and Ken Reibel's visit to the AutismOne Conference in the Chicago area. The story has all the elements. Horror:
(that's what they were forced to eat); Police Absurdity (though not brutality); Screeching Breathless Paranoia; Jenny McCarthy; and Chemical Castration.
The story is told by Jamie across two blogs: Autism One, Part One on Skepchick and How I Got Kicked Out of the AutismOne Con: Part 2 on Friendly Atheist. Ken Reibel gives his version of the events here.
oracknows | May 30, 2011Why is it that so many bloggable items tend to pop up right before holidays? Whatever the reason, whether my perception that this is the case is accurate or simply the result of confirmation bias on my part, last Friday a little tidbit of popped up that seriously tempted me to blog about it. But I was good (mostly). I resisted, figuring that, first, readership plummets during holiday weekends anyway and, second, anything worth giving an Orac-style dissection to will still be worth giving an Orac-style dissection to three days later. If it isn't, then it probably wasn't worth the full Orac…
oracknows | May 30, 2011Today's a holiday here in the U.S. You'd think that I'd be taking it easy, but, sadly, thanks to the insatiable needs of the NIH grant monster, today, as I was doing most of the day Saturday and part of the day yesterday, will be working on grants; that is, when I don't take a couple of hours to get that jungle of a lawn that surrounds my house mowed. (Thanks to the almost daily downpours producing the wettest spring I can remember, "jungle" is a fairly accurate term to describe our yard at the moment.) Despite all this, I would still be remiss if I didn't take a little time to followup on my…
oracknows | May 29, 2011It's happened again.
Remember how I've said time and time again that the anti-vaccine movement is very much like a religion, a cult even? One of the key attributes of religion is an intolerance for heretics, apostates, and unbelievers. The usual approach to unbelievers is either to try to convert them and then, failing that, to shun them (fortunately in most civilized countries Inquisition-like reactions are no longer common) or to skip the attempt to convert them and jump straight to the shunning. More evidence of just how true that is was presented on a silver platter to me at the anti-…
oracknows | May 27, 2011I was debating what to blog about last night, and it wasn't easy. We're in the midst of yet another embarrassment of riches, as far as topics relevant to this blog go. Then I noticed something that I considered to be quite appropriate, given that we are now right in the middle of the yearly autism quackfest known as Autism One in Chicago. This week, Nature published an issue with a special section devoted specifically to vaccines. The timing seemed just too deliciously appropriate to ignore. Think of it. In Chicago (well, Lombard), there is a collection of anti-vaccine cranks meeting to…
oracknows | May 25, 2011It's that time of year again!
No, I'm not referring to the unofficial start of summer here in the U.S., namely the Memorial Day holiday, although that is fast approaching. In fact, it's only five days away. No, I'm referring to something that, beginning today, will blight my favorite metro area (Chicago) for the next few days. I'm referring to the anti-vaccine quackfest that starts this morning in Lombard, IL and is known as Autism One. As long as I can remember blogging (OK, maybe for the last four or five years), as Memorial Day rolls around, I can't help but get that sinking feeling as the…
oracknows | May 24, 2011A couple of weeks ago, the anti-vaccine movement took a swing for the fences and, as usual, made a mighty whiff that produced a breeze easily felt in the bleachers. In brief, a crew of anti-vaccine lawyers named headed by Mary Holland, co-author of Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children, published a highly touted (by Generation Rescue and other anti-vaccine groups, that is) "study" claiming to "prove" that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) had actually compensated children for autism.…
oracknows | May 19, 2011Well, well, well, well.
Remember how recently autism quack Dr. Mark Geier finally ran afoul of Maryland's medical board for subjecting autistic children to unethical and potentially dangerous treatments with Lupron? Briefly, his license was suspended on an emergency basis, and, as a result, a lot of attention was brought to bear not just on the father, but on his son David Geier as well, who had been working with his father for years and, to all appearances, practicing medicine without a license. Personally, ever since I first learned of Mark and David Geier's dubious medicine six years ago,…
oracknows | May 16, 2011The anti-vaccine movement is a frequent topic on this blog, sometimes to the point where it seems to take over the blog for days (or even weeks) at a time and I cry for respite. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which being that the anti-vaccine movement is one of the most dangerous forms of pseudoscience, a form of quackery that, unlike most forms of quackery, endangers those who do not partake of it by breaking down herd immunity and paving the way for the resurgence of previously vanquished diseases. However, anti-vaccine beliefs share many other aspects with other…
oracknows | May 12, 2011It's been a busy and rough week. The news on the vaccine front has been coming fast and furious, with the release of one bad study and another highly touted great white hope of a legal study. As much as I'm tired of blogging about vaccines this week, it's still mandatory for me to note that something very wonderful has happened. So bear with me, please. Remember how recently, after well over five years of his flouting the law, the State of Maryland suspended "autism biomed" quack Dr. Mark Geier's medical license? In fact, Maryland didn't just suspend it, but emergently suspended it. Well, on…
oracknows | May 10, 2011Let's review.
Once upon a time, according to anti-vaccine zealots, the MMR vaccine caused autism. Soon after that, the explanation morphed. No, it wasn't so much the MMR that caused autism; rather, it was the mercury in the thimerosal preservative that used to be in several childhood vaccines in the U.S. until the end of 2001. Then, as evidence accumulated exonerating mercury in vaccines as a cause of autism, it became the "toxins." (Antifreeze, formaldehyde, and human fetal parts, oh my!) Finally, it became "too many too soon."
And the anti-vaccine movement rested, because its latest excuse…
oracknows | May 9, 2011One theme that I keep revisiting again and again is not so much a question of the science behind medical therapies (although certainly I do discuss that issue arguably more than any other) but rather a question of why. Why is it that so many people cling so tenaciously to pseudoscience, quackery, and, frequently, conspiracy theories used by believers to justify why various pseudoscience and quackery are rejected by mainstream science and medicine? Certainly, I've touched on this issue before on several occasions, for example, with respect to the anti-vaccine movement, the claim that abortion…
oracknows | May 7, 2011I can hardly wait to see what the "proof" is this time:
Investigators and Families of Vaccine-Injured Children to Unveil Report Detailing Clear Vaccine-Autism Link Based on Government's Own Data
Report Demands Immediate Congressional Action
Directors of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA), parents and vaccine-injured children will hold a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (717 Madison Place, NW in Washington, DC) on Tuesday, May 10 at 12:00 PM to unveil an investigation linking vaccine injury to autism. For over 20 years, the federal…
oracknows | May 6, 2011Anti-vaccine activists are constantly repeating the claim that they're "not anti-vaccine" but rather are "pro-safe vaccine" or "vaccine safety activists." Depending on the specific anti-vaccine activist, it's either a lie or self-delusion, of course, although I suppose it's good that anti-vaccine activists do have enough of a sense of shame to realize that being anti-vaccine is frowned upon by the sane parts of society. Still, it is amusing every so often to see the "vaccine safety activist" mask drop, as it did in the comments of the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism earlier:
When the…
oracknows | May 5, 2011The other day, I wrote about how mercury militia general and autism quack extraordinaire Dr. Mark Geier had his medical license suspended by the State of Maryland. At the time, I lamented how it was at least five years two late, but there was one aspect of the story that I didn't really dwell on, although I did mention it. It's something I hadn't known about before, something I was actually pretty shocked to find out, and I wanted to know how it could possibly have happened. I'm referring to the fact that Mark Geier's son David Geier had somehow slimed his quacky way onto the State of…