Olmsted on Autism: Why Insel Must Go -- Now!
By Dan Olmsted
Thomas Insel, the feckless factotum who heads the committee that will decide the future of the autism epidemic, needs to follow Dr. Story Landis (HERE) out the door TODAY and resign as chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Tomorrow is too long.
Landis inadvertently revealed the bankruptcy of Insel's leadership of the group when she both bashed parents and suggested investigating the most severe cases of vaccine injury -- which is all the parents want -- in notes dropped on the floor (see the notes here) at the IACC, recovered by friendly forces and reported on our blog by the relentless Katie Wright.
At an IOM environmental working group meeting in 2007, I walked up to Insel and handed him a copy of the piece I'd written for the Baltimore City Paper, implicating mercury in the first cases of autism. (See "Mercury Rising" HERE.) Insel told me he thought that the mercury hypothesis had been disproven (not true, but certainly his right to say so). But then he went on to say, in these words or just about, that of course, it still could be the vaccines.
So two years ago, he told me vaccines could be causing the autism epidemic -- and to others, he acknowledged that he believes the autism epidemic is real. Since then, he has dillied and dallied, shillied and shallied, and otherwise failed in his duty to the American people to get to the bottom of the autism epidemic with all deliberate speed.
In fact, he shouldn't just resign from the IACC, he should quit as head of the National Institute of Mental Health and go help his brother invent more vaccines to give babies. (See When Vaccine Development is Family Business: Thomas Insel's Conflicted Role on Vaccines and Autism ) I don't think they get enough, do you?
Of course, he won't do that. But until he does, let's realize that the IACC is a sham, run by people like Story Landis (gone) and Tom Insel (go!) who have one thing in common: They're bureaucrats who make the trains to Autismland run on time.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.
Give 'em Hell Dan!!! I just watched Dr. Gary Null speak his angry mind to the New York State Assembly and I can picture you right up there with him. Boy are you two guys MAD about vaccines and autism. YES!!!!
http://www.autisticliving.com/garynull.html
Dr. Gary Null Speaking Out at the New York State Assembly
Posted by: Kathy Blanco
Posted by: Autism Grandma | October 24, 2009 at 12:47 AM
"Yep, I am talking EUGENICS."
I honestly hate to think about it. I'd rather think all those billions are generated by accident, a windfall if you will. I also like to think my vote counts when I go to the polls, that our boys in Iraq are fighting for democracy and that Obama et al has our best interest at heart even though he said he bowls like someone from the Special Olympics. We are all in God's hands, nothing to see here, move along. Baaaaa
Posted by: bensmyson | October 19, 2009 at 05:40 PM
Keep up the pressure, Dan, enough Mr. nice guy.
Burocrats, damn burocrats all of them, watching each other closely so they don't lose a step and fall out of line, a flock of birds flying in formation to nowhere.
Insel is up there as chairman of the IACC committe because he is a good soldier. Sebelius is up there as secretary of health because she is a good soldier. President Obama is up there as president of the US because we put him there but, alas, once there he is proven to be a good soldier too.
Feckless factotums all of them!!
Posted by: we shall overcome | October 19, 2009 at 04:20 PM
For some reason, firing this guy is like trying to find Osama...just another terrorist wannabee will pop up in the new position. All of them can't say what they really want to say...that is, we don't care...or if we did care, we would lose our jobs...for some reason, I affiliate strongly with the AIDS people who got soo much shit before they got some answers...and even still, they are not getting it....perhaps we need to dig deeper into the WHY of this epidemic, and ask, if we have been at risk for injury, and they knew this? Yep, I am talking EUGENICS.
Teresa Binstock says it very interestingly like this:
Given all that's known in the peer-reviewed lit and (eg) given findings such as Verstraeten (et al 1999) probably shared with GSK owners, the likeliest ramification is that "they" know exactly what they're doing as they set policy whereby people with weak alleles are allowed to be injured. Across years and decades as this occurs, injured individuals and their families transfer a greater proportion of income, savings, and equity unto pharma and associated medical industries. Eugenics for profit, as explained in the hypothesized white paper: Principles and Practice of Iatrogenic Medicine.
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | October 19, 2009 at 04:09 PM
My email to the White House. My words added to Ginger Taylor's
Thomas Insel is an embarrassment to NIMH and the IACC is an complete farce under his leadership. I join with Dan Olmsted and call for his resignation from his leadership positions of both organizations, and for him to take his bogus committee appointees with him. Level the field. Appoint members with a true desire to find the cause of Autism. Appoint members who are in the battle to save their children. Appoint members who treat those affected. NO MORE CONNECTION TO BIG PHARMA. NO MORE CONNECTION TO ANY VACCINE PROGRAM. NONE.
Posted by: K Fuller Yuba City | October 19, 2009 at 03:53 PM
"They're bureaucrats who make the trains to Autismland run on time."
Echos of the presentation given at AutismOne this year by Mark Blaxill (A.K.A. the-smartest-man-in-any-room).
These "good germans just following orders" need to be confronted with the crime. We need to bear witness. We need to show them the evidence of our kids' sickness: huge posters of the bloated bellies, the all-over body rashes, the liquid stools, the lab reports of abnormal immune and porphyrin profiles, the heavy metal dumps following chelation, the self-inflicted injuries, all of it. In their faces. If they won't invite us in the room, we'll confront them on the sidewalk or in the elevator (and we'll follow them when they step out: http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/)
Dr. Janvier thinks she's offended now? She ain't seen nothin’ yet.
This holocaust must end, now. It's time for civil disobedience. Who's with me?
Posted by: Amy Becker Clark | October 19, 2009 at 03:18 PM
Subject: Please resign your posts
From: Ginger Taylor
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:12:57 -0400
To: Thomas Insel
Dr. Insel,
You should be neither the head of NIMH nor chair of the IACC. Please resign immediately so that your posts can be filled by someone who will serve people with autism.
Link: Autism Chair Thomas Insel Refuses to Ride in an Elevator With an Autistic Child
Stop prolonging the suffering of our children.
Ginger Taylor, M.S.
Posted by: Ginger Taylor | October 19, 2009 at 01:38 PM
Oooh yeah! He's gotta go...
Refusing to ride an elevator with a child who has autism is... Isn't that just the icing on the cake.
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2009/10/autism-chair-thomas-insel-refuses-to.html
Posted by: Pamela | October 19, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Red (Teresa),
Thanks for the "spew moment" with my coffee just now.
Spew –verb (used with object):
1) to eject from the stomach through the mouth; vomit.
2) to cast forth, gush, or eject, as in disgust or anger: The angry mob spewed Insel out of the meeting and hoped he'd never come back.
And Dan, this was definitely one of your best articles. Talk about "being on a roll"....you “spewmiester” you!
Kelli
Posted by: Kelli Ann Davis | October 19, 2009 at 12:21 PM
For those who want to lobby for Insels dismissal from the IACC, I found this contact information:
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
Please include your e-mail address
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius
Phone........: 202-690-7000
FAX......:202-690-7203
Address: 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Room 615-F, Washington, DC 20201
Senator Tom Harkin contact:
http://harkin.senate.gov/c/
731 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3254 Phone
(202) 224-9369 Fax
Posted by: Sarah | October 19, 2009 at 12:10 PM
If this is the way "conductor Tom" runs the train to Autismland -- Its time for this "train" to pull into the station and get everybody off. The way it's being run now is bass ackwards. Autism "experts" (i.e. PARENTS) need to be running the show.
Supposedly Autism is a top priority on the President's list of disorders/disabilities.
Where's the change?
The CDC update to the rate numbers was no big deal to parents. I'm sure many believe as I that 1 in 150 was too low already. What else is being done? (insert sound of cricket chirping).
I am tired of "walking" for Autism, give me an F-15 going Mach 2 and let's see if we can get something done before or children become adults.
And to hear that some members of this committee believe that parents are in it for the MONEY? I live in Autismland, they must live in La La land.
Autismland being a money maker? More like an Autism blackhole. At last count my 5 yr old has broken one TV and 5 DVD players, he's torn brothers $20 bill to confetti and generally breaks other items. Sister Sarah now enjoy the 'ripping everything in sight' pastime. Books, paper, mail, documents, etc. Locked and bolted door were a deterrent until the older kids developed closing doors amnesia.
I've been very tempted to stand in front of the White House gates until the President called me in to talk. Anyone like to join me?
Posted by: John Kirton | October 19, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Sarah, I am in complete agreement with your post. When the public is invited to attend allegedly public meetings, and then is rudely and deliberately denied participation at these events, it becomes painfully obvious that public participation is not desired by the IACC. If the IACC will not allow our active participation, nor do the research promised, then it is nothing but a sham committee. We have done nothing to deserve such blatant disrespect. Our children are seriously ill. The IACC is a disgrace.
Posted by: Gayle | October 19, 2009 at 11:02 AM
My restraint has so long ago snapped I have no idea where the other end is anymore. This evil came into my house, uninvited, unexpected, as a deceptive agent self-touted as a healer of millions. I let it in and it stole my son, I've been on its trail ever since. The only thing holding me back is the lack of physical strength to wreck the temple of the moneychangers where they hide. ANY person standing in the way of me finding my son and all those other children snatched from their families harbor no favor, no sympathy nor any understanding, they are no less an enemy than the very beast that lied to me and my wife 32 months ago. To hell with them all, apologetic or not. It's time to rattle our swords and fight like Spartans. We can take them!
Posted by: bensmyson | October 19, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Dear Dan,
I don't know what school you went to learn words at, but my - It was a jolly good school and you have done your teacher proud.
- Autism parent, mad at those in charge of running trains to Autismland. Its like the Holocaust all over again.
Posted by: keep writing | October 19, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Thanks Tim for Insels email address...I sent him what I'm thinking (of course, I was polite!)
Posted by: Kevin | October 19, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Yes, Insels removal is looooong overdue ..
I still can't get out of my head the way Insel and crew treated that mother from California who came to the IACC meeting with her autistic son to testify only to find an empty room because Insel adjourned the meeting before the parents had a chance to speak. The mother had her son who had rehearsed all week give the speech anyway to an empty table while she sat alone and listened. It was beyond rude. Totally disrespectful.
I've told that story to people and they were horrified at how poorly the IACC treated the parents. Maybe Sebellius, Obama and Senator Harkin should hear about this incident.
Posted by: Sarah | October 19, 2009 at 10:24 AM
"They're bureaucrats who make the trains to Autismland run on time".
This is the first time I've cried when reading what's basically a political report of bureacratic ins and outs. This blog has always been exceedingly careful about making this kind of analogy and I think it's the reluctant running out of restraint that got to me today. No one wants it to be fitting.
Posted by: Gatogorra | October 19, 2009 at 09:29 AM
Throw the bum out!
Posted by: Sylvia | October 19, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Tom Insel's IACC has been a disaster. 2 YEARS to create a stragetic plan! Insel packed the committee with federal members, at least 2 of whom believe parents of sick kids are in this for the money. Only 3 out of 19 members are actual autism organization parent leaders. Insel unlawfully removed the only vaccine research project, after the committee had voted in favor of it.
We have all had enough of this nonsense.
It is time for Sebelius and Collins to demsonstrate their commitment to autism by replacing half of IACC with true community representatives and new leadership.
Posted by: Katie Wrught | October 19, 2009 at 08:51 AM
[email protected]
Insel's email address
Posted by: tim | October 19, 2009 at 08:43 AM
Re: The Circumlocution Office
Perfect analogy, John. My husband and I were watching Little Dorrit just the other day, and that is exactly what I said to him. The Circumlocution Office is the IACC! Insel IS Barnacle!
Posted by: Julia C. | October 19, 2009 at 08:42 AM
It reminds me of Dickens's portrait of the British civil service in first half of the 19th century: "the Circumlocution Office". Of course, we have even more bureaucracy now but the fundamental of having a committee which will suppress the truth or any real advancement for generations at a time is unchanging. This is what they will do if they are allowed.
In more recent history (the early 1980s) our Department of Health imported infected blood from the US for the treatment of haemophaeliacs - many died, no one was compensated or only minimally, then 25 years later we have a two year Public Inquiry in which nothing is established, and the spirit of Dickens's Sir Tite Barnacle marches indefatigably on. Criminal negligence by the British Civil Service under the Tories is blithely whitwashed under New Labour - the same production team that gave you MMR and purchased brands for use on British infants which had already been banned in other countries. And still no questions are answered.
The only purpose of these people is to waste everyone's time while bad things continue to happen. We haven't got to the bottom of Story's story. What must not be allowed to happen is that her departure enables a line to be drawn under the reasons for it. In Dickens's fable Arthur Clennam (the hero) marches into Barnacle junior's office saying he "wants to know", to which Barnacle junior responds:
"Look here. Upon my soul you mustn't come into a place saying you want to know, you know."
Well, Thomas Insel, we want to know. Enough time has been wasted and enough lives have been wrecked, and WE WANT TO KNOW! And we are not going away.
Posted by: John Stone | October 19, 2009 at 04:51 AM
I agree Insel has been worthless as the head of the IACC.
Insel has no business having anything to do with autism and our children. He has yet to recognize that autism is a crisis. He has twice testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee proudly announcing that he knows nothing about autism---not the cause, any possibility of a cure, nor any knowledge if the autism rate is increasing.
Why is our government so willing to reward incompetence with continued employment?
He is sure that vaccines aren't linked to autism.
If we go to the IACC website, we read about the 10 fold increase in autism in the last 20 years. The questions are asked: "Why has there been such an increase in prevalence? What can be done to reverse this alarming trend? How can we improve the outcomes of people already affected, including youth and adults?"
So far Insel has done nothing to address these issues. It seems his mission has been to come up with lots of autism busywork and to refuse to investigate the strong evidence linking vaccines to the onset of autism.
Anne Dachel
Media
Posted by: Anne Dachel | October 19, 2009 at 02:25 AM
So openly boycott this charade with signs and letters, calls and faxes.
Posted by: Nora B. | October 19, 2009 at 12:58 AM
These people are so far unattached to the reality of autism, it's sickening. I'd like for them to see my day today...my son had three seizures due to a past DPT injury. His autism is severe, and another daughter mild to moderate. I ONCE trusted vaccines, I was fed the party line, and now I just want to throw up. I want compensation for this injury, even if he is twenty eight years old. I want ALL children to be compensated who got vaccinated by known neurotoxins and contaminated dirty vaccines.
I want PARENTS to head this committe, not doctors who have agendas, and minds up their asses. I want PARENTS to tell them, how entirely incorrect they are, show them our science, and then suggest that all others who spread lies that autism is not caused by vaccines or other environmental stimuli, be fired, and no longer funded by our government. I would like to be on that committe to be honest..
But, because we annoy them, I know this won't happen...
The only thing thare would REALLY annoy them, is to ask parents to no longer vaccinate, and join us in a boycott. Now that would be a lovely scene, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | October 19, 2009 at 12:50 AM
For too long he's been "Insel-ated" from truth and consequences about vaccine-induced autism. I can't wait to say good riddance to such bad rubbish. Shame on him.
Posted by: nhokkanen | October 19, 2009 at 12:02 AM
After 40 vaccines by the time our twin boys hit 48 months in August 2007, YES, Insel MUST GO NOW!
THANK YOU Dan Olmsted & Katie Wright!
Thank you
Posted by: CindyPDX | October 18, 2009 at 11:34 PM
"beurocrats who make the trains to autismland run on time." Hilarious. Sad but hilarious. Thanks for keeping the pressure on these useless "professionals."
Posted by: jen | October 18, 2009 at 11:03 PM
I second that request - but it is actually a command - GO!
Great post, Dan! Great exit by Landis - she did the right thing because what else could she have done when the jig was up?
Now Insel needs to follow suit as his jig was up months - no years ago.
like Ginger -
Main Entry: go
Part of Speech: verb
abscond, approach, beat it, bug out, cruise, decamp, depart, escape, exit, fare, flee, fly, get away, get going, get lost, get off, hie, hightail, hit the road, journey, lam, leave, light out, make a break for it, make for, make one's way, mosey, move, move out, near, pass, progress, pull out, push off, push on, quit, repair, retire, run along, run away, set off, shove off, skip out, split*, take a hike, take a powder, take flight, take leave, take off, travel, vamoose, wend, withdraw
,,,,yes, that's it-- vamoose!
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | October 18, 2009 at 10:50 PM
Insels = All about money
Vaccines = Money
Cui bono?
Posted by: Ann Benson | October 18, 2009 at 10:37 PM
And... what the fig was he doing testifying before the House Government Oversight and Reform committee alongside CDC director Frieden on H1N1?
Why would Congress need to hear from the head of the National Institutes of MENTAL Health on a flu virus... that in no way causes mental disabilities?
He was there to defend vaccines of course. Which should be outside his purview, right?
Or has he just been tasked with defending vaccination on the IACC, in Congress, wherever.
Biostitute?
Posted by: Ginger Taylor | October 18, 2009 at 10:25 PM
They are something all right, most people in this world don't usually throw paper down for others, even janitors to pick up.
So elite attitudes of entitlement, has its disadvantages.
Posted by: Benedetta | October 18, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Feckless - noun
1 : weak, ineffective
2 : worthless, irresponsible
Factotum - noun
1 : a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities
2 : a general servant
Apt.
Thanks for the word of the day.
Posted by: Ginger Taylor | October 18, 2009 at 10:18 PM