AGE OF AUTISM

Thoughtful House Responds: Sunday Times Defies Press Complaints Decision on MMR Autism Stories

Managing Editor's Note: Scroll down to read email correspondence as well.

Sunday Times Defies Press Complaints Commission

Paper Notifies Media Oversight Agency that it Will Not Remove from its Website False Stories about MMR and Dr. Andrew Wakefield  
 
(Austin, Texas) – The Sunday Times of London, a Rupert Murdoch News Corporation paper, has defied direction from the UK’s Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to remove from its web site controversial stories it has failed to substantiate, which allege Dr. Andrew Wakefield “fixed” data relating to the MMR vaccine.  The reports by correspondent Brian Deer are the subject of an extensive complaint filed with the PCC by Wakefield.

The PCC last week issued an unpublished directive that the stories be removed (see below).  They were taken down immediately, unannounced, but the Sunday Times has now defied the PCC by putting the stories back online after complaining Dr. Wakefield publicly announced the PCC’s directive. 

Press Complaints Commission Orders Sunday Times to Remove Deer's Stories on Dr. Wakefield

Press Complaints Commission Orders Sunday Times to Remove MMR Journalist’s Stories on Dr. Wakefield from Paper’s Web Site

Work by Reporter Brian Deer is at Center of Investigation Being Conducted by Medical Regulators

(Austin, Texas) – The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) of London, an independent body that oversees journalism fairness in the UK, has issued an interim order calling for the Sunday Times to remove stories written by Brian Deer about Dr. Andrew Wakefield from its web site.  Dr. Wakefield had filed an extensive complaint with the PCC regarding errors of fact in Deer’s reportage on the MMR vaccine and its possible relationship to autism.  The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK is presently hearing evidence involving Dr. Wakefield and two of his colleagues following a complaint to the GMC by Deer himself. The PCC decision today appears to indicate there are questions about the accuracy of the Deer stories.

AAP Spokesperson Dr. Karp Speaks of World Wide Rise in Autism

By Anne Dachel

Huffington Post is running two major autism stories today.  Plesae comment on both over at HuffPo, links are below.

First is David Kirby's article "Tidal Wave" of Young Adults with Autism about to Flood Cash-strapped California" (HERE) about the looming generation of adults with autism and it points to the undeniable truth...

A once rare disorder has impacted hundreds of thousands of our children who are rapidly reaching adulthood.  As adults, they will be dependent on the U.S. taxpayers for their support and care.  For years, as the autism numbers exploded, our federal health agencies pretended that nothing was wrong.  Organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics congratulated doctors for "better diagnosing" to account for the children everywhere with autism.  No matter how bad the numbers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has adamantly refused to admit that there has been any real increase. 

In the second piece, Cracking the Autism Riddle: Toxic Chemicals, a Serious Suspect in the Autism Outbreak, (CLICK HERE TO COMMENT AT HUFFPO) assistant professor of pediatrics, UCLA, Dr. Harvey Karp, here billed as, "America's most read pediatrician," makes a stunning break from the official denials.  Karp publicly admits that there has been a "WORLDWIDE RISE IN AUTISM."  

This has got to be sending shock waves through the medical community.  Karp is a regular speaker at AAP events around the U.S. and I have to wonder what their reaction is going to be.  If "America's most read pediatrician" admits a real increase, the pretense about autism being a solely genetic disorder, can't be true.   Lots of people in high places have gone on the record holding fast to the claim that we've always had so many autistic kids everywhere, we just didn't call it autism.  

When the CDC finally got around to releasing the update on the autism rate to one in every 150 children/one in every 94 boys in Feb. 2007 (based on outdated study numbers from 2000 and 2002), they did so still denying any real increase.

Prof. Simon Baron Cohen Expands Comments

By Anne Dachel

I'm sincerely grateful to Simon Baron-Cohen for engaging in this dialogue with me.  He sent me yet another response:

A couple of quick replies:

1) I agree we need a good prevalence study of ADULTS with autism spectrum conditions, and I haven't seen a study like this!

2) Kids who show regression are also a very important subgroup to understand.

3) I have no vested interest in denying a role for vaccines and remain open-minded about causes of autism. but the evidence for a link between autism and vaccines is not very consistent.

4) I do certainly believe autism spectrum conditions have increased. hugely. It is the reasons behind this increase that are a matter of debate. 

For years, I have asked members of the press and health officials to SHOW US THE ADULTS WITH AUTISM.  Surely the agency that can run down every single case of swine flu in the U.S. can find them.  The CDC has lamely made excuses for not doing so.
Simon Baron-Cohen agrees that we need such a study.  Personally, I believe that U.S. health officials and recognized autism experts who make the claim that there's been no real increase are on very shaky ground without one. 

Katie Wright: First Woman to use the "V" Word on Oprah on Newsweek Dreck

By Katie Wright

I expected more of “Newsweek” than that tabloid style hack job of Oprah. It was a meaningless and mean spirited piece of journalism.

I was a guest on “Oprah” 2 years ago. The show was framed as an “autism 101” piece. Just prior to the live taping I was informed that no vaccine discussion would be allowed. I was disappointed but accepted the conditions.

As I told my story, Oprah listened carefully and asked probing and detailed questions. Afterwards Oprah turned to a doctor in the audience and asked her what was causing this explosion of autism cases, was it vaccines? The doctor said any vaccine connections “has been refuted.” OK, now I was mad. Why was the doctor allowed to talk about vaccines but the parents were not?

During the next break I darted over to Oprah asked if I could respond to the doctor’s assertions. Oprah asked what I had to say. I told her that my son had a horrible reaction to multiple vaccines, became chronically sick and autistic soon afterwards. Oprah looked me in the eye and said, “I will give you the opportunity to say what you need to say.” A few people around Oprah heard our exchange and cautioned Oprah about allowing me to speak. Oprah said that the show allowed the doctor to give her opinion and that I have a right to give mine. Oprah said Moms have a right to talk about their experience.

Dr. Baron Cohen Responds

Managing Editor's Note: Thank you to Dr. Baron Cohen for responding to Anne Dachel's open letter to him (HERE). We need to be able to discuss the future of our kids with the experts and professionals who wield tremendous influence. We might not always like it. We might strongly disagree. But we'd darn well better keep talking - for the sake of our kids who are hurtling toward adulthood.  Thank you, Dr. Baron Cohen. And thank you, Anne.  Here's the response from Dr. Baron Cohen:

Dear Ann Dachel,

Thank you for your letter. The new research that you referred to showing that autism spectrum conditions are now much more common than they used to be, and which was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry this month, was conducted by our group at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge.

Using 3 different methods we found that the rate is now about 1% of primary school age children. This was a large study based on about 20,000 children. As you rightly pointed out, this study also found that for every 3 children who already have a diagnosis, there are two more who would meet "research diagnostic criteria". So, if one includes those who are undiagnosed, the rate goes up to 1 in 64 children.

These are very high rates, especially compared to 30 years ago, when the rates were thought to be 4 in 10,000 (using Rutter's estimates). Interestingly, other estimates from the same period (from Wing) suggested autism was much more common even back then (15-20 per 10,000).

I think many children in the old days were overlooked and that we are getting much closer to the true rate in the population these days. In that sense, the fact that more cases are being diagnosed could be seen as an achievement, that we are getting much better at identifying such children. If some note of alarm was needed, perhaps it should be over all those individuals who were missed in the old days, and who are now being better recognized.

ABC's Claire Shipman and Katty Kay Spank Newsweek On HuffPo

Click HERE to read and comment on ABC's Claire Shipman and Katty Kay's HuffPo, "Did Anyone Else Think The Newsweek Photo of Oprah Was Misogynistic? And Just Plain Dumb?"

Last year we at ABC news ran a series on autism, and new methods being used to diagnose it which are--to say the least--controversial. The medical community and established autism community tried hard to get us to kill the report--which suggested (gasp)--that it might be a good idea to actually look at the brains of kids who are thought to be autistic. Do MRIs and EEGs. Hardly a stretch, and there is a growing body of evidence that autism is such a huge catch-all phrase that kids need more diagnosis. A number of prominent neurologists now believe it helps to look at the brain, especially to rule out seizure disorder, which can often produce autistic symptoms, and which is treatable. (That's what McCarthy found, among other things, by the way, when she decided to trust her instincts instead of conventional wisdom.)

Dear Professor Baron-Cohen

By Anne Dachel
 
OPEN LETTER TO SIMON BARON-COHEN, Professor of developmental psychopathology at Cambridge University and director of its Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University
s.baron-cohen@psychol.cam.ac.uk
 
Dear Professor Baron-Cohen,
 
I'm writing because of what I'm reading in the British press about autism.  There are a number of highly improbable and likely impossible things that we're supposed to believe about the autism rate.  I'm finding so many excuses and strange explanations for why we have children everywhere with autism that it's hard to know how to begin.  The British press never questions anything.  One claim may directly contradict another, but no matter, it's all reported as THE TRUTH ABOUT AUTISM.  In another age, they'd have told us that the Earth was both flat and round at the same time.
 
AUTISM ISN'T AN EPIDEMIC
 
Everything centers around the explosion in autism and how to explain it away.  A once rare disorder is now so common that everyone knows someone with an autistic child and no one in authority seems worried.  
 
Autism only appears to have increased according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  It's really just "better diagnosing."   The CDC must keep in close touch with the experts in the UK like yourself because you were quoted recently saying, 'I don't think it's the right way to think about autism, as an epidemic.'
 
You obviously don't believe there really are more kids with autism.  " 'A good part' of the rise,' ... can be explained by better diagnosis and an expanded definition of autism." HERE
It's hard to believe you're living is in the same Britain where they recently announced that one in every 60 children has autism, including one in every 38 boys.  

Bankrupt Chicago Tribune Tells Autism Families to "Go To Zell!"

By Anne Dachel

It seems that the Chicago Tribune can't say enough about the dangerous and far-reaching effect of those in the autism community trying to sound an alarm over the horrific toll this disorder is taking on families everywhere.  Doctors using biomedical treatments and diet were repeatedly slammed along with the Autism One Conference held in Chicago last week.  SEE: 'Miracle drug' called junk science (HERE) Chicago Tribune and from the Los Angeles Times (HERE).

Jenny McCarthy is a specific target in the sights of the Tribune right now.  They had to tell us twice on both May 27 and a few hours later on May 28 on Google News that Oprah is crossing the line in letting McCarthy air her views on TV.
 
The two pieces are both by Maureen Ryan, THE WATCHER.  
 
Oprah's influence is vast and enters a controversial realm Chicago Tribune May 27
(HERE)
 
Far-reaching 'Oprah Effect' examined in documentary Chicago Tribune May 28
(HERE)
 
They're almost identical, except that the first one on the 27th had these two paragraphs at the end:

On Media: The Chicago Tribune Fails Children with Autism

By Anne Dachel

I was looking through the recent stories put out by the Chicago Tribune and was amazed at the exposes denouncing Dr. Mayer Eisenstein and Dr. Mark Geier and his son David.  
 
Autism drug Lupron: Father-and-son team's crusade shows cracks Chicago Tribune May 21, 2009 (HERE).

Autism doctor: Troubling record trails doctor treating autism May 22, 2009 (HERE).
 
Let me say that I'm not an expert on any of the medical aspects of this; I'm merely an observer.  So here's what I'm seeing. 
 
One of the issues in the stories is the use of Lupron to treat aggression in autistic children who have high levels of testosterone.  This is a huge controversy.  The treatment is slammed as "unproven and potentially damaging" in the Tribune.
 
"Experts" are lined up against parents and doctors using Lupron to treat autistic behavior, but the Tribune doesn't stop there.  We're also told, "In the absence of definitive answers, unproven treatments have proliferated, including diets that eliminate wheat and dairy, chelation drugs that leach metals out of the body, and treatment in hyperbaric oxygen chambers similar to those used to treat scuba divers with 'the bends.' "