Fox Facts

By Tami Giles

"Study Links Autism to High Testosterone Exposure in Mother's Womb"

Wow, the press really had a heyday with this FOX News story. This is surely one of the finest examples of the sad reporting we have in America this month. Fox not only created their own headline, but it’s a darn misleading headline. Blame those moms again. Has anyone kept score this year on what the ratio of stories that “blame the moms” ~ vs~ “blame the dads” ?

The link to the Fox News story is a diluted and misleading press version of a news piece of the original UK Times online story.

So Fox published their headline story based on another story, which was not even based on the facts of the study. This reminds me of the telephone game we used to play in elementary school. Fox News (and others) really provided misleading info here.

Though I have not read the complete results of the actual "study", I was amazed at how far the press stretched this one. The reporter should change professions and become a natural childbirth coach.

Here's a short snip with more detail on the facts of the study:   

    
"...Professor Baron-Cohen said that the results did not prove that the link between male hormones and autistic traits was causal: both could be the result of something else.

Umm…..so…….how definitive is that?

"...He also said that his team had not yet examined autistic children, only autistic traits in the normal population...."

Can someone explain why he is so excited about his "study findings" to me? because I don't see how he feels broke ground here.


"....About 20 per cent of the variation between children’s autistic traits appeared to match foetal testosterone levels, with the remainder likely to be caused by genetic and environmental factors...."

So, 80% of the children in his "study" did not match the hypothesis he is trying so hard to create a study to prove? Huh? Is this earth-shattering news? And so this means that only 20% showed "higher testosterone levels"- but there was no mention of "controls"- meaning the number of children in the general population who might (would?) also show higher testosterone levels.

And, he wasn't even looking for or counting kids with autism- he was just counting kids who had traits he felt were possibly common in autism- like kids who had "traits typical of autism, such as a preference for solitary activities and strong numerical and pattern-recognition skills." 

I ask ya--- is this rocket science?  Oh yeah- it's all based on HIS HYPOTHESIS.

"The model fits with the observation that autism is four times more common among boys. One possible explanation is that male hormones in the womb could promote systemising at the expense of empathy. Very high exposures may thus trigger autism."

I was laughing when I read this, "...may trigger autism." How many other stories have found that old dads, too much tv, those bad genes MAY trigger autism. I want to create a press release- and from what I can tell of the ethics of most reporters and media in America, I bet I could make it a headline. I am proposing that a lack of zippers on pants causes autism, because of course, of those BAD JEANS. 

Tami "Rainmom" Giles is a single parent who lives in the NW with her 9 yr old son who has autism. She became involved in autism advocacy after her son was diagnosed and she was told by a professional (??) who claimed to be an expert in autism- that there was nothing she could do to help her son. She was told to take him home and just love him- until the day she could no longer care for him, then give him up to institutional care.  Thank goodness Tami did not take that advice.  Today, because of dietary changes and treatments to correct her son's underlying biomedical problems, her son has made much progress, and continues to make gains. Tami contributes her son's progress to Dr. Bernard Rimland and the brave pioneering researchers, doctors, and professionals he gathered to create DAN! 

Tami's  name is familiar in autism circles, where she wears many hats- advocate, activist, writer, biomed mom, and most of all, proud parent of a bright and handsome son, who continues to make steps towards recovery.
                              

Comments

[Twyla]

Thanks so much for this article. It was very refreshing and satisfying to read. Amazing how people can jump to conclusions based on a study showing only 20% correlation between high testosterone levels and supposedly autistic-like characteristics among kids who are not even diagnosed with autism.

Another important point worth raising is that some studies have shown that testosterone increases vulnerability to mercury poisoning.

Historic studies of mercury poisoning show that mercury exposure tends to affect males worse than females. (See paper "Autism: a Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning" at the ARI, GR, and SafeMinds web sites).

Dr. Boyd Haley found that living cells in a test tube which were exposed to minute quantities of mercury suffered greater harm when testosterone was added to the mix, and less harm in the presence of estrogen.

So it is remarkable how even supposedly objective intelligent journalists are so quick to conclude that if there is a correlation between high testosterone levels and autism this "proves" a genetic cause of autism.

Autism is most likely caused by several factors, and perhaps the "male brain" that Dr. Baron-Cohen describes is one of those factors. But the "male brain" does not explain many autism characteristics such as the chronic digestive and immune system disfunction so common among autistic people.

A plausible hypothesis is as follows: Over the ages women evolved with superior detoxification mechanisms because they carry fetuses. More babies survived and thrived when born to a woman whose body could better protect the developing fetus. Now that various environmental contaminants have increased, males are generally being affected worse than women, because there was not as great a biological imperative for males to evolve with superior detoxification mechanisms.

[Stagmom]

Hi, Tami. And isn't the researcher Borat's Uncle??? Ni-eeeeece!