Dr. Tom Insel on Autism: "If There Is a True Increase.." IF?
By Anne Dachel
For several years now I've been following Dr. Thomas Insel's work
as head of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. I've also looked at his lectures on autism.
In 2009, Insel spoke at MIT. He talked about the environment and autism. He admitted that there were endless possibilities but he was firm that vaccines had been looked into and they'd been exonerated.
Then in 2010, he spoke for an hour and a half at the National Institutes of Health. Insel made the stunning statement, "Eighty percent of the people with a diagnosis of autism [in the U.S.] are under the age of eighteen."
In addition, Insel said, "We have responded to this as if it's a crisis. We see this as an enormous public health challenge. If you look at those numbers, the increase and recognize how many of those kids will become adults, we ...also need to be thinking about how we prepare the nation for a million people who may need significant amounts of services as they are no longer cared for by their parents or as their parents are no longer around."
During his talk, he made it clear that better diagnosing could explain only a small portion of the stunning increase in autism. He pointed to the environment, but was unable to provide any specific answers.
Then on Dec 26, 2012, Insel put out the piece, Autism Progress, on the NIMH website.
So what does Insel consider progress in the area of autism? He cited lots of things about the genetics of autism, early diagnosing using brain imaging and early intervention. He made stunning statements like:
"According to PubMed, there were over 1,000 ASD papers related to genetics or brain imaging since January 2011 - more than three times the number of papers from the same interval a decade ago."
He was quick to tell us that he really doesn't know anything about autism's cause: "We still do not know enough about what causes ASD."
He went on to say this:
"What about environmental causes? Several environmental factors, such as exposure to air pollution, agricultural pesticides, and antidepressants, have been reported to increase ASD risk, mostly based on exposure during pregnancy. While most scientists assume that environmental factors interact with genetic susceptibility, we still know far too little about either genetic or environmental factors to make this link."
The strongest language I could find in the article was the need for "urgent attention." He made a clever, but ambiguous comment, "The 1 in 88 figure in 2008 may still fall short of the mark. In the absence of a more complete explanation, as I have said in an earlier blog, the safest assumption is 'more affected not just more detected.'"
Following that he wrote, "If there is a true increase in children affected, what environmental factor or factors are driving this increase?"
"IF"??...Insel still isn't quite sure IF MORE KIDS REALLY TRULY HAVE AUTISM?
Sounding like we have all the time in the world to ponder this issue, Insel wasn't alarmed. Autism isn't even a crisis to this man. I still can't fathom how he could put the title "Autism Progress" on this piece, deluding himself into believing that there's actually been any.
The latest piece I've found from Insel, dated Feb 26, 2013, is nothing short of bizarre as shown by the title, The Four Kingdoms of Autism.
Insel finds autism frustrating. It seems to bother him that the autism community has so little consensus on anything and that there's so much "polarization and confusion around autism." (Which Insel doesn't seem to realize comes from the fact that the medical community can't tell us anything definite about the disorder.)
According to Insel's overview, the divisions over autism are like "kingdoms." Insel wrote, "Each [kingdom] has its own truths. And each too often fails to understand or even recognize that their truths may not apply to all kingdoms." The kingdoms are Illness, Identity, Injury, and Insight. Their views of autism range from seeing autism as merely an example of neurodiversity to parents who see autism as vaccine injury.
In Insel's view, there's no single answer about autism.
Insel summarized his perspective:
"At different times and for different people, each of these kingdoms has something to offer. We need better diagnostics and treatments; we need better services, especially for adults; we need a strategy for prevention; and we need a deeper understanding of the social brain. As long as each kingdom stays behind its own walls, there is little hope for progress overall."
Insel believes that none of the Four Kingdoms of Autism has the complete truth about autism.
Insel seemed to be saying, can't we all just get along? Can't we all just agree on something?
With a puzzling lack of concern over the cause of autism, he advocated for services.
"A better way forward will be to find some common ground where the entire community can work together. One such area is the need for better services. Clinicians, self-advocates, parents, scientists, and educators should be able to embrace a goal of ensuring that every person on the spectrum, irrespective of wealth, geography, or ethnicity, receives the best treatments and services."
Insel also made a passing reference about the next approaching segment of the autism nightmare.
"The challenge only becomes more complex when children with autism become adults with autism. There are over 1 million parents of Americans with autism-nearly all worried about how their offspring will be cared for if he or she outlives them."
Finally, Insel chided us about our inaction on autism:
"Fifty years from now we don't want to look back at this period and wonder why we stayed so long behind these kingdoms' respective bastions, empowering conflict rather than cooperation. Instead, by focusing now on both short term needs and long term solutions we need a collective commitment to science and service to improve the world for both children and adults on the spectrum."
It was stunning to read Insel's views and consider that this man is supposed to be addressing autism in the U.S. He's the head of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee created by Congress and he can't tell us anything. Where's his indignation over the years of pathetic inaction?
Insel said this about the Injury Kingdom:
"This kingdom was founded by parents who report marked regression after the 18-month vaccination series, when their previously interactive, communicative toddler withdraws and stops speaking. While epidemiological studies do not support a link between vaccination and autism, those convinced that autism is an injury argue that population studies may obscure a link in rare individual cases."
Insel trivialized regressive autism and omitted any mention of the fact that it's been discovered that U.S. government has quietly compensated over 80 cases of vaccine injury that included autism, along with the concession in the case of Hannah Poling.
"Fifty years from now..." Fifty years from now we will be living in a society where autism affects the entire population. It won't be a childhood illness any longer. It'll be a fact of life for a large segment of the population. We won't have the luxury of speculating on the kingdoms of autism. There will be one Kingdom of Autism---Bankrupting Cost.
We will be faced with providing an never ending population of disabled Americans that we can't explain. A significant portion of them will never be productive. We'll all be paying to support them. They will drain the financial resources of our society. I can't imagine what autism is going to cost this nation. Fifty years from now, Americans caught in the autism nightmare will ask how it could possibly have gotten so bad with authorities doing nothing to stop it. The abysmal inaction of those we call experts will be seen as outrageous and incomprehensible.
The truth is Insel has omitted the kingdom where he find himself. There is a Fifth Kingdom of Autism. It's called Denial and Cover-up.
I asked Louis Conte, father of triple boys, two of whom have autism, for his opinion of Thomas Insel. Here's his response:
Dr. Insel clearly sees divisions within the autism community and has done nothing to address them. His insights do nothing that help people with autism. He continues to be vague about a true increase in the number of affected children. No increase in autism, no autism crisis and therefore no need to do anything extraordinary about it.
Personally, I would be camped out in the Kingdom called "Injury." I think that children who have suffered brain damage as a result of vaccine injuries (and, yes, other environmental insults) often develop the symptoms of the behavioral disorder called autism. My thoughts on this are supported by the many cases of vaccine injury induced brain damage that the US Government (HRSA) has compensated in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).
We need to look at regressive autism. What happened to these children is important. As Dr. Bernadine Healey stated five years ago, we must study the children who got sick.
The population of vaccine injured children compensated by the US Government represents an important data set that could provide invaluable insight into how autism (and other health conditions) occur after brain damage. The information regarding these individuals is critical to understanding how autism develops. Is there a vulnerable sub-set of children? What can we learn from these children? There are dozens of important questions.
But we never get to study them because our government is keeping what it knows away from public view. Given the increase in autism, keeping this information shuttered away amounts to negligence and cover-up.
Dr. Insel should be leading the call to study the children who got sick - not just noting that divisions exist within the autism community. Imagine if President Kennedy went to Berlin and simply said "Hey, Berlin, you guys got a big wall there." Imagine if President Reagan said "Nice wall Mr. Gorbachev."
Mr. Insel, tear down the wall. Ask the tough questions.
When will it not be "better diagnosing?"
Posted by: Jen | March 24, 2013 at 11:06 PM
A fundamental question is why Insel doesn't know whether there has been a true increase when his buddy Collins told Congress that it was real and couldn't be genetic seven years ago.
http://www.genome.gov/18016846
Posted by: John Stone | March 21, 2013 at 09:11 AM
Daily Mail Publishes MMR Letter
A slightly edited but not toned-down version of a letter by Bill Welsh, President of Autism Treatment Trust, Scotland was published in the Daily Mail hard edition on Friday (18 January 2013).
Sir,
A payment of $600,000 in the USA as compensation for MMR vaccine damage leading to autism in a child (Daily Mail 15/1/13) follows a $1 million payout a few days earlier for the same tragic scenario. It is my understanding that up to 100 families in America have now been compensated in recognition of the neurological harm MMR can do, although, as part of the recompense, each family had to sign a 'confidentiality agreement'! There are many more USA cases awaiting a decision.
Last year a small boy in Rimini was similarly compensated for the autism he developed following MMR. The Italian government did not challenge the court decision. Hundreds more cases are in the pipeline in Italy.
In the UK over 1,500 families entered litigation claiming MMR had led to autism in their child. Legal aid was suspiciously withdrawn and the parents were abandoned with their seriously ill children who had, and still have, known, painful, treatable co-morbid underlying medical conditions.
What does this tell us of the mindset and morals of the guardians of public health in the UK?
It tells us that the ancient Carthaginian policy of child sacrifice is alive and well and has full approval in the shadier corridors of Whitehall. The promotion and protection of a deeply flawed vaccination programme has over-ruled common sense and common decency.
To damage perfectly healthy children in a crude experiment is undoubtedly a criminal offence and must be treated as such. It is high time that our politicians realised that they, along with the citizens of the UK, have been misled about the safety of MMR.
Bill Welsh
Posted by: Jilly Ann Beret | March 20, 2013 at 12:37 PM
"The fact is the science on vaccines is not complete."
Yes the body of ANY KNOWLEDGE is NEVER complete. I struggle to term "vaccination" a science for it would be the strangest science known to man. "Vaccination" IMO is a political craft and a VERY deadly craft, IMO by DESIGN, at that.
Yes "vaccination" is presented in the rough cloth of a science but the very founding principal of "vaccination", that the production of anti-bodies somehow leads to a better life if this production is accomplished by man instead of by mother nature, has NEVER been proven. The testing end point for a "vaccine" is almost always the production of anti-bodies. Why do we not clinically test for autism as a testing end point? The answer should be obvious. Why do we not clinically test for auto-immune disease as a testing end point? The answer should be obvious. Why do we not clinically test for compromised immune systems as a testing end point? The answer should be obvious.
Why do we not clinically test by the golden standards two groups, those "vaccinated" and those not "vaccinated? The answer should be obvious.
An epidemiological testing of just this has been done for us and the results are disastrous.
"In New Delhi, India, prior to 2000, ASD/PDD (autism spectrum disorder/pervasive developmental disorder) symptoms were rare – typically only occurring in children who were vaccinated abroad. However, after the Indian pediatricians began recommending, in 2000, the addition of triple-dose Thimerosal-preserved Hib (Haemophilis influenza B) and Hep B (hepatitis B) vaccination programs to the existing Thimerosal-preserved triple dose DTP (diphtheria toxin, tetanus toxin and pertussis toxins) vaccination program recommended by the Government of India, the incidence of a childhood ASD/PDD diagnosis increased to 2 % to 4 % of vaccinated New Delhi children.” Doctor Paul King PhD
No "vaccination" is no science at all, it is much more akin to a POLITICAL religion with population reduction being a major tenant of this pseudo-religion. Most true religions are much more firmly grounded than is "vaccination".
"Vaccination programs in the late 19th and early 20th century decimated the populations of many countries where government sponsored vaccination programs were introduced. Japan suffered 48,000 deaths from smallpox vaccination; England and Wales experienced 45,800 smallpox deaths in a population that was 97% vaccinated against smallpox. Australia and Germany combined with a total of 120,000 deaths from the very smallpox for which they had been vaccinated. European deaths amongst the vaccinated portion of the population totaled 3,000,000. Deaths from smallpox vaccination programs began to decline when a revolt against mandatory vaccination programs emerged from the chaos. Within twenty years mandatory smallpox vaccination laws in England were repealed. In 1919 the death rate from smallpox promptly plummeted to a total of 28 deaths in a population of almost 40,000,000 people. Previously, with mandatory vaccinations they had averaged over 44,000 deaths from smallpox." Vaccination History
http://www.newswithviews.com/health_care/health_care5.htm
Posted by: Lou | March 20, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Insel is another company man. His agenda is brain reearch and our kids are valuable subjects of that research. He is strategically placed on the IACC to keep an eye on things in the autism community and report back to his overlords.
The fact is the science on vaccines is not complete.
Even the IOM admits to this. After a review of the safety of the CDC schedule, the IOM said (and this a direct quote):
"the elements of the schedule -- the number, frequency, timing, order, and age at which vaccines are given -- are not well-defined in existing research and should be improved."
Source:
IOM Report Details Strategy for Monitoring Safety of Childhood Immunization Schedule
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2013/The-Childhood-Immunization-Schedule-and-Safety/Press-ReleaseMR.aspx
This is a huge admission that was tucked in a press release among the typical mantra that sings the praises vaccines. This goes to the heart of parents concerns about the schedule.
So, keep repeating the IOMs own words:
"the elements of the schedule -- the number, frequency, timing, order, and age at which vaccines are given -- are not well-defined in existing research and should be improved."
Even Insel can't get his away around those words...so lets keep these words alive.and put them in the face of Insel and all the pro-vaccine zealots.
Posted by: Sarah | March 20, 2013 at 09:02 AM
Insel .....you are a bliar ! Its a deliberate govt sponsored crime against the people and therefore you are totally prosecutable in any country with a fair rule of law.
Vaccines = iatro-genocide
Posted by: Jilly Ann Beret | March 20, 2013 at 03:18 AM
IACC, why not do one high-quality autism count in the never vaccinated, so you can pat the members of the "Injury Kingdom"--as if we are encamped behind fortress walls we built out of comforting delusions, afraid of any high-quality science destroying our prized life point of view and not already screaming and begging for such research--on the head when it completely exonerates vaccination as you are so vocally sure it will and say, "Look here, we've met you half way?" While you are at it, since funds are scarce and precious, work in the interest of all U.S. parents, 89% who want vaccine safety research to be a priority and who are paying your salary, with a thorough looking at the over-all health of the never-vaccinated. Help get the U.S. vaccine program in compliance with international law requiring informed consent which no pediatrician or vaccinating doctor or nurse can currently provide. How can you balk against such a research proposal and putting to rest such concerns?
Insel also said this in 2009:
"As far as I can tell, the burden of proof is upon anybody who feels that there is NOT a real increase here in the number of kids affected," Dr. Insel told me in a telephone interview on Friday. He said factors such as better ascertainment "don't really explain away this huge increase" and that "you really have to take this (increase) very seriously - from everything they are looking at, this is not something that can be explained away by methodology, by diagnosis."
He added that he never saw a single case of autism during his training in the mid-1980s, including a full year's rotation in child psychology. "I wanted to see children with autism. I couldn't find them," he said. "Now I wouldn't have to go any further than the block where I live to see kids with autism today."
So if there is an actual increase in incidence year to year, I asked, wouldn't there necessarily also have to be an environmental component to at least some cases of autism?
"Yes," Insel said. "I don't think anybody is arguing that it is 100-percent genetic. And I don't think in those terms, exactly, that it's either genetic or it's environmental. From my perspective, it's almost always going to be both. And the only question is: How do you nail down this interaction, how do you go after it?"
But, he added, "There is no question that there has got to be an environmental component here."
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/david-kirby-dr-insel-on-rising-asd-numbers-no-question-about-environmental-factors-.html
Here we are no closer to understanding any environmental component from his perspective. In 2009, oh, yeah we're likely poisoning more of our children, but hopefully someday we'll figure out how to do it less... In 2013, there are so many possible ways we could be poisoning our children more, if we are actually poisoning more, so let's just agree to get along in managing this possible crisis since we're not likely to be prepared for the future at the rate we're going...
Anne, I agree. As far as I can tell, the burden of proof is upon anybody who feels there is not a huge vaccine-injury denial and cover-up.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | March 19, 2013 at 10:33 PM
"We will be faced with providing an never ending population of disabled Americans that we can't explain."
IMO no way. Even now tens of millions have strong negative convictions or suspicions about "vaccination"; strong enough to refuse many or MOST of this toxic mumbo jumbo.
Next comes more forced "vaccination" and the realization that if it is so good why do we have to be forced. This will be the gateway to a NATIONAL if not international understanding that "vaccination" is a deadly scam.
Once this hits critical mass "vaccination" as well as all childlike trust in "government" will be over.
Posted by: Lou | March 19, 2013 at 10:29 PM
IMO, the debrained people in the govt will notice autism only at time, when US will collapse when most of its citizens will be autistic. This time is rapidly approaching. May be it will happen in 10-20 years. But then, it will be too late to save the country.
Posted by: no vac | March 19, 2013 at 08:51 PM
so just this week they are saying there is an increase in alzheimers and demencia too. if i were sarcastic i would ask,isn't it just being diagnosed better? when are we goiing to wake up and see, vaccines, whether they are the childrens or the adult flu vaccines are a contributing factor in both autism and alzheimers.
Posted by: nancy | March 19, 2013 at 07:49 PM
Thank you Donna L "...do nothing while heaping the blame on all of us who are going up in flames."
= zactly!
Posted by: s | March 19, 2013 at 07:39 PM
" ..... Someone sent me this. Insel has just received a top AMA award. Why?.... "
************
Probably because they all understand, that this stooge's feigned stewardship is keeping many of their sorry asses out of prison
Honouring Thomas Insel with an award "Outstanding" government service, is just the AMA’s way of smearing a little more lipstick on their pig....
Posted by: Barry | March 19, 2013 at 05:49 PM
Ahhhh, the infamous Insel brothers. One's in charge of diverting eyes from the *real* causation of the autism epidemic (Tom) because his family has benefitted financially from the vaccine industry . . . and the other (Richard) is a vaccine developer who is now (unfortunately) in charge of science over at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), where -- guess what -- there is also no reason to study or speculate about vaccine causation for the corresponding rise in type-1 diabetes in our kids during the SAME period as the great rise in autism diagnoses. Just another fun fact from this mom of a boy who got the "double-whammy" -- autism AND type-1 diabetes. YIPPEE!!!!
Posted by: BJ | March 19, 2013 at 05:44 PM
I vote Donna L for comment of the week.
Posted by: Garbo | March 19, 2013 at 05:25 PM
So according to Dr Insel it's our fault - that especially we parents but also other interested parties in the autism world have kept things from progressing. Is he suggesting that he would be effective if only these "kingdoms" would come together? That we're doing this to ourselves because of our stubborn commitment to our own kingdom??
I thought leaders were meant to lead - to sift through various viewpoints, bring together key stakeholders and above all SEEK THE TRUTH & SOLUTIONS! Apparently Dr. Insel looks outward when measuring lack of success rather that at the IACC and himself.
Meanwhile - keep talking, exposing and working hard! "Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light." George Washington
Posted by: Living the Dream | March 19, 2013 at 04:01 PM
Dr. Insel Knowing what you know how do you sleep at night?
Posted by: Mary Cavanaugh | March 19, 2013 at 02:54 PM
Someone sent me this. Insel has just received a top AMA award. Why?... 'Dr. Insel’s work in the field of mental and behavioral health has provided valuable insight into the autism spectrum and obsessive compulsive disorders,'
NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel Received AMA’s Top Government Service Award
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2013/nimh-director-thomas-r-insel-received-amas-top-government-service-award.shtml
On February 12, 2013, the American Medical Association (AMA) honored Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, the AMA’s highest award for government service in health care.
Named after the AMA’s founder, the award annually recognizes seven elected and career officials in federal, state and municipal service whose outstanding work has “contributed to the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.“
“Dr. Insel’s work in the field of mental and behavioral health has provided valuable insight into the autism spectrum and obsessive compulsive disorders,” said AMA Board Chairperson Steven J. Stack, M.D. “He inspires and leads other to push the boundaries of research so we can find treatments that allow patients to lead fuller and healthier lives.”
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | March 19, 2013 at 02:53 PM
"To summarize,of the 58 empirical reports on autism and heavy metal toxins, 43 suggest some link may be present, while 13 reports found no link. Even with the tendency for null results not to be reported, it cannot be said there is no evidence for a link between heavy metal toxins and autism: although the question may still be open--in sum, the evidence favors a link."
Sorting out the spinning of autism: heavy metals and the question of incidence, DeSoto and Hitlan, 2010
http://www.ane.pl/pdf/7021.pdf
Posted by: Carol | March 19, 2013 at 01:27 PM
Insel made strikingly similar comments when the prevalence of pediatric biopolar disorder skyrocketed:
"We do not know how much of this increase reflects earlier under-diagnosis, current over-diagnosis, possibly a true increase in prevalence of this illness, or some combination of these factors. However, these new results confirm what we are hearing increasingly from families who tell us about disabling, sometimes dangerous psychiatric symptoms in their children."
Posted by: nd | March 19, 2013 at 12:55 PM
What a great bunch of comments!
The data that Ray Gallup's reported on is really great to have on hand and it should be distributed widely to government officials. The increase in autism is absolutely, undeniably clear. The research that Brian Hooker has noted has been out there for a while.
And Insel knows it.
Insel needs the divisions within the autism community to keep the fig leaf in place.
I love what Representative Meehan said (thank you Bob for re-stating it) because the man gets what is really needed here: Leadership.
Posted by: Louis Conte | March 19, 2013 at 12:30 PM
Ah, so now Insel is going to blame the lack of response to the autism epidemic on all of us parents or autistic adults who are supposedly impeding progress by creating all these 'walls'. How convenient. Meanwhile, each 'kingdom' is handing him the solutions on a silver platter.
"We need better diagnostics and treatments" - Ok, so provide them. End of problem for Kingdom One.
"We need better services, especially for adults" - Ok, provide them. End of problem for Kingdom Two.
"We need a strategy for prevention" - Ok, isn't that what we in this community have been screaming at them for years on end? Deal with the issues of vaccine safety/unsafety, change the vaccine schedule...end of problem for Kingdom Three.
"We need a deeper understanding of the social brain" - Do we really? Seems to me the social brain works just fine when it isn't damaged. End of problem for Kingdom Four.
I don't get it. If a building is on fire, firefighters don't stand back and say, "We can't really do anything about it right now because there's a different fire and a different person in each room." They just put out the damn fire. This whole 'kingdom' business is nothing but an excuse to sit back and do nothing while heaping the blame on all of us who are going up in flames.
Posted by: Donna L. | March 19, 2013 at 11:58 AM
I guess this isn't an increase in autism?
The following:
COUNTS FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN
RECEIVING SSI BENEFITS
FOR AUTISTIC DISORDERS
YEARS 2006 - 2011
Year Under 5 to 64
2006 84,217
2007 97,455
2008 112,414
2009 130,772
2010 151,260
2011 173,946
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_asr/2011/sect06.html
Online Tables 34 &35 on link above
Yearly increase in the number of children with autism age 6-21 in US Schools Since DSM IV (1994 to present)
Year Students
1994 22,780
1995 28,813
1996 34,082
1997 42,487
1998 53,561
1999 65,391
2000 78,717
2001 97,847
2002 118,603
2003 140,920
2004 166,302
2005 193,481
2006 224,415
2007 258,095
2008 294,302
2009 335,199
2010 369,664
2011 406,957
US Department of Education Source:
Online
https://www.ideadata.org/PartBChildCount.asp
6-21
https://www.ideadata.org/TABLES35TH/B1-3.xls
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | March 19, 2013 at 11:03 AM
Tom Insel's brother, Richard A. Insel, was part of the team that developed the HIB shot which was preserved with thimerosal. His own company made money off of this shot that was launched in 1988 - the very year that the vaccine makers could no longer be sued. According to AoA, Tom's brother made $4 million from this vaccine.
Nuff said.
Posted by: first do no harm | March 19, 2013 at 10:44 AM
Victor,
I felt the same about the language in his article. I found his choice of wording around vaccines and parent concern condescending. Nothing new for us. I wish there were sincere effort to get perspective on concerns.
Jackie
Posted by: Jackie Murphy | March 19, 2013 at 10:29 AM
Brian Hooker has that exactly right!
Tom Insel knows.
All you have to do is listen to a lot of his speeches and the truth slips through sometimes.
But Insel's job is to stall, and he does it very well.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 19, 2013 at 09:34 AM
Dr.Insel, appears to be scolding parents of children with autism, he is also and as usual arrogant, and callous must be included with his belittling of parents while at the same time doing absolutely nothing during his tenure other than just being "pathetic" of course. I wonder how he would fare at the congressional hearings in Washington when his feet are put to the fire.
Posted by: Victor Pavlovic | March 19, 2013 at 08:55 AM
At recent Congressional hearing on autism .. Rep. Meehan .. totally frustrated and dissatisfied with answers given by public health officials .. asked:
"Who's in charge of this. Who wakes up in the morning and says this is my priority .. it seems to be the efforts so far appear to be "willy-nilly"?
I history is to be our guide .. since its inception .. the absolutely last person we can expect to "tear down the wall" that has protected the IACC's fruitless and incompetent search for answers identifying the "cause" of the autism epidemic .. is .. Mr. "willy-nilly" himself .. Dr. Thomas Insel.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | March 19, 2013 at 08:09 AM
Thank you Anne.
Dr. Insel recently said this about the brain (see http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/index.shtml#2 ) in reference to this paper (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22151227 ):
“The human brain is thought to have close to 86 billion neurons, each making on average about 10,000 connections. In contrast to most animals, our brains are largely made up of a heavily folded cortex, accounting for 80 percent of brain mass and about 100,000 miles of axons that provide the highways between neurons.”
Then Dr. Insel asks questions and offers answers that “we don’t know.”
So here are some questions for Dr. Insel.
Dr. Insel, has the thought not crossed your mind that a developing brain in passage to a destination of 86 billion neurons connected with 100,000 miles of axons that “provide the highways between the neurons”—that this destination may not be reached due to the bodily injection of the heavy metal mercury?
Has it not crossed your mind that the concentration of inorganic mercury lingering in the brain of an infant after each injection (estimated at one part per billion or a 5 nano-molar concentration) may interfere with that destination to the point that the brain of that person can sustain a significant injury?
Has it not crossed your mind how inexpensive it is to remove this dangerous neurotoxin from vaccines in the U.S. compared to how expensive it is to provide lifetime care to individuals with brain injury?
If these thoughts have crossed your mind then why have you have not taken action to remove this neurotoxic metal from vaccines?
Finally, if you do not take action now then why don’t you step aside and let someone else step up and get the job done
Posted by: Jim Thompson | March 19, 2013 at 08:09 AM
The epidemiologic studies that Dr. Insel references, if properly analyzed, DO SHOW A CORRELATION BETWEEN VACCINES AND AUTISM. Insel, worships his own government, that provides his large paycheck, and would never doubt the veracity of these flawed, fraudulent studies. Strangely, he seems to not know about the many epidemiologic studies that do report a link! Dr. Insel, what is it like to live in a world where you have the luxury of ignoring the obvious, because it might be inconvenient to you?
Posted by: Brian Hooker | March 19, 2013 at 08:01 AM