I Speak of Dreams

Totally False in at Least Two Dimensions "New Study: Baby monkeys develop autism after routine CDC vaccinations"

 I have no idea why the Hewitson macaque-vaccine "study" is being presented as news, or as meaningful.  Hewitson's team's research (and ethics) were severely criticized from 2008 to 2010 by research scientists.  Also, I don't think either the amygdala growth study or the HepB study have been replicated.

First it's Catherine J. Frompovich at VacTruth on April 29, 2012:

Monkeys Get Autism-like Reactions to MMR & Other Vaccines In University of Pittsburgh Vaccine Study

Then Ethan A. Huff at Natural News picks up the beat  on May 6, 2012:

Vaccine bombshell: Baby monkeys given standard doses of popular vaccines develop autism symptoms

Both stories go on to represent the Hewitson monkey studies as (a) fact (b) news.  They are neither.

No, the macaques in the study did not develop "autism like reactions".  No, you can't draw any conclusions from the studies.   All you can really tell is that twenty infant macaques (and maybe fewer) were subjected to invasive procedures and death -- for no benefit.

The Hewitson studies are confusing because of their history and the fact that the same monkeys are used to make different points.  

Here is a listing of the publications that used infant macaques injected with vaccines and that listed Hewitson as an author.

1. 2008: Poster presentation at the International Meeting For Autism Research (IMFAR) poster 3024:    Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Amygdala Growth and Opioid Ligand Binding: authors L. Hewitson, B. Lopresti, C. Stott, J. Tomko, L. Houser, E. Klein, C. Castro, G. Sackett, S. Gupta, D. Atwood, L. Blue, E. R. White, and A. Wakefield. "The objective of this study was to compare early infant cognition and behavior with amygdala size and opioid binding in rhesus macaques receiving the recommended childhood vaccines (1994-1999), the majority of which contained the bactericidal preservative ethylmercurithiosalicylic acid (thimerosal)". (Exposed to thimerosal,N=13 ; unexposed; N=3). (The "significant changes in bhavior after MMR" study) Conclusions: This animal model, which examines for the first time, behavioral, functional, and neuromorphometric consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen, mimics certain neurological abnormalities of autism.
2. 2008: Poster presentation at IMFAR poster 3028 Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and Brain Stem Volume and Opioid Ligand Binding authors A. Wakefield C. Stott, B. Lopresti, J. Tomko, L. Houser, G. Sackett, and L. Hewitson. "The objective of this study was to compare brain stem volume and opioid binding in rhesus infants receiving the recommended infant vaccine regimen." (Exposed to thimerosal,N=13 ; unexposed; N=3). (The "delayed reflexes study") Conclusions: This animal model examines the neurological consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen. Functional and neuromorphometric brainstem anomalies were evident in vaccinated animals that may be relevant to some aspects of autism.
3. 2008:  Poster presentation at IMFAR poster 3033 Microarray Analysis of GI Tissue in a Macaque Model of the Effects of Infant Vaccination  authors S. J. Walker, E. K. Lobenhofer, E. Klein, A. Wakefield, and L. Hewitson.  Objectives:   This study was designed to evaluate potential alterations in normal growth and development resulting from the vaccine regimen that was in use from 1994-1999.  Specifically, this portion of the study was to compare the gene expression profiles obtained from gastrointestinal tissue from vaccinated and unvaccinated infants.  (Vaccinated, N=7;  Unvaccinated, N=2)  Conclusions:   We have found many significant differences in the GI tissue gene expression profiles between vaccinated and unvaccinated animals.  These differences will be presented and discussed.   
4. 2009 (October) Paper in NeuroToxicology; withdrawn February 2010: Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight L. Hewitson, L. Houser, C. Stott, G. Sackett,  J. Tomko,  D. Atwood, L. Blue, E. R. White, and A. Wakefield.
5. 2010 Paper in Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):147-64. Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study. L. Hewitson, B. Lopresti, C. Stott,  NS Mason and  J. Tomko.  (This appears to be the same study as the poster presentation 3024, minus some authors. & adding NS Mason.)
6. 2010 Paper in Toxicol Environ Health A Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine: influence of gestational age and birth weight. Hewitson L, Houser LA, Stott C, Sackett G, Tomko JL, Atwood D, Blue L, White ER.J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2010;73(19):1298-313.PMID: 20711932 (this appears to be the same paper as the withdrawn NeuroToxicology paper with the subtraction of  Wakefield as a co-author).

On to the criticisms:

1. May 16, 2008 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain Monkeying Around This post introduces what posters are, in a scientific context.
2. May 17, 2008 Orac at Respectful Insolence Some monkey business in autism research (or why it is not a good idea to provoke Orac 
   1. In the biomedical field, poster presentations are the lowest form of "publication" of one's data. 
   2. The poster presentation only sketches out the methodology, and important 
   3. It's evident that this is really one study divided into MPUs (minimal publishable units) of 3.
   4. Why is the control group so small (3 monkeys) and the effect group so large?  How were individual monkeys assigned to control vs. condition groups? 
3. May 18, 2008 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain Laura Hewitson's Stinker, on all 3 IMFAR poster presentations:  Hewitson has severe and significant conflicts of interests (COI) that were not revealed, contrary to the IMFAR requirements.
   1. Her partner is a employee of Thoughtful House,
   2. Her co-author, Andrew Wakefield is (at the time of publication) chief researcher at Thoughtful House
   3. Her partner is on the Board of Directors of SafeMinds (the "thimerosal causes autism" organization)
   4. Hewitson's son has autism
   5. Hewitson and her partner are part of the Omnibus Proceeding--in other words, the Hewitson family are suing the government for compensation for their son's alleged vaccine-caused autism.
4. July 16, 2008 Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary Autism: No Rats Will Be Harmed, But Keep An Eye on the Kids. Most of this post is about the ill-fated NIMH chelation for autism study,  but Willingham addressed some significant flaws in the first two poster presentations, namely, the undisclosed conflicts of interest, and sharply questioning the framing of the discussion:
   1. Willingham highlights  the connection between Thoughtful House and the 3 poster presentations, a conflict of interest that is not disclosed.
   2. Posters 3024 and 3028 use the phrase "Childhood vaccines are a possible causal factor in autism".  This is an astonishing assertion:  by 2008, there was  "no peer-reviewed published research confirming this statement--especially the "causal" part--and a substantial amount countering it".
   3. Poster 3024 asserts, and 3028 implies two things: (a) the majority of childhood vaccines contained thimerosal and (b)the thimerosal might be the vaccine component associated with autism.  This is simply silly on both counts: it is not true that "the majority" contained thimerosal; the MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal; and pediatric vaccines became thimerosal-free in 2001.  
5. October 7 2009 Catarina Science Mom at JustTheVax 20 Monkeys, which discusses the withdrawn 2009 Hewitson HepB study in NeuroToxicology.  She finds that there are multiple procedural and study-design flaws that render the study almost worthless:
   1. The three IMFAR posters mentioned above are clearly part of the same set of monkey studies
   2. There was no randomization of the subjects.  A study either is randomized or not. 
   3. Since there was only one interpreter of the monkeys' behavior pre- and post-vaccine administration, no blinding was possible, introducing another layer of potential biase.
   4. It seems that an additional 4 control animals were added after the IMFAR poster presentations.  Rather than strengthening the study, the late addition of subject weakens study as it adds a possibly confounding variable.
   5. The authors failed to publish baseline biochemical data, such as blood mercury levels pre- and post-injection.
   6. The authors collected data on 18 behaviors and published tables on 13 behaviors.  H0wever,  only 3 reached statistical significance.
   7. The significant conflicts of interest of 3 authors (Hewitson, Wakefield, and Stott) are noted, with a particular emphasis on Stott.
   8. The study was funded by a collection of groups and individuals with vested interests in finding vaccines harmful to health and causal in autism.
6. October 7 2009 Orac at Respectful Insolence Some Monkey Business in Autism Research discussing the withdrawn 2009 Hewitson study in NeuroToxicology;
   1. "Even if the study was well designed and executed (which it is not), and even if the study conclusively showed delayed development of survival reflexes (which it does not), it is still a very, very, very long leap to conclude that vaccines and or thimerisol are responsible for increased autism rates in humans. 
   2. These "survival" reflexes (called "primitive reflexes" in humans) are present at birth in human infants and their  absence would be noted by any competent pediatrician.
   3. Absence or delayed appearance of "primitive reflexes" is not a feature of autism.
7. October 24, 2009 Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness A Made for Court Study? (This is another of Prometheus's master class in how to read and analyze scientific papers -- you would do well to study his technique)
   1. "Most fatal for this study – is that there was not an increase in human infants who were late to suck, root, etc. following the introduction of neonatal hepatitis B vaccination in 1991. Given that the “uptake” of this vaccine at birth was close to (and often exceeded) 90%, an effect of this magnitude would have been noted. Nor is there a difference between the US – which has continued hepatitis B vaccination at birth – and the UK – which almost never gives the hepatitis B vaccine at birth – in developmental delay or autism prevalence."
   2. "This current study, as well as the entire macaque research program by Hewitson, is a good example of terrible research. The subject numbers are far too small for any meaningful statistics, and the outcomes being followed are numerous and tricky with a random scatter of results not even consistent between different publications of the same research."
   3. "What we have is far worse than ideological reporting and spinning of the scientific research – apparently we have the ideological conduction of research in the first place. This is similar to the research program of Benveniste on homeopathy."
8. February 12, 2010 Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness Where are the Monkeys? (on the sudden withdrawal of the 2009 HepB paper in NeuroToxicology)
9. February 12, 2010 Orac at Respectful Insolence Wakefield's "Monkey Business" Hep B paper withdrawn? (on the sudden withdrawal of the 2009 HepB paper in NeuroToxicology)
10. July 16, 2010 Steven Novella at Neurologica Blog Terrible Anti-Vaccine Study, Terrible Reporting, on the 2010 paper in Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):147-64.Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study. 
    1. The number of subjects (9) and controls (2) is far far too small to determine anything.
    2. The authors "also makes multiple analyses (another red flag by itself), which means she can compare multiple variables looking for any difference. Then she invokes the sharpshooter fallacy and declares any change she does find to be clinically meaningful."
       
11. July 16, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain From IMFAR to Poland: How A Monkey Study Can Totally Change  In this post, Sullivan compares the withdrawn 2009 Neurotoxicology paper to the recently-published paper in 
    1.  Of 13 authors on the original abstract, only 4 remain
    2. A new author was added, N.S. Mason.
    3. In the Neurotoxicology paper, the study had data on 13 vaccinated monkeys. Now the number of monkeys is only 9. 
    4. The Neurotoxicology paper had data on 3 controls. Now it is only 2.
    5. In the Neurotoxicology paper, the vaccinated monkeys “showed attenuation of amygdala growth”
    6. In the Acta Neurobiol Exp paper, the vaccinated monkeys have larger amygdalas
    7. A commenter notes that the researchers adminstered  "the vaccines at four times the human rate
12. July 16, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain The genie is out of the bottle: Vaccines cause autism This is Sullivan's sarcastic commentary on how enthusiastic the "vaccines cause autism" brigade is over the Hewitson Acta Neurobiol Exp paper, "Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study."  Sullivan has the questions listed below, and concludes "Just another 16 monkeys giving their lives for nothing."
    1. Why is there such a large difference between the number of subject animals and the number of control animals?
    2. Why did the number of control subjects go from 4 to 2?  What happened to the other 2?
    3. Why did the "unexposed" monkeys' amygdalas shrink?
13. July 16, 2010 Kev at LeftBrain/RightBrain The genie is out of the bottle: part 2: More genies, more bottles  As it turns out, this issue of Acta Neurobiol Exp is devoted to "issues in autism", a notion proposed by Professor Dorota Majewska, who is a significant supporter of Andrew Wakefield; the editor missed the three questions that Sullivan posed.
14. July 16 2010 Orac at Respectful Insolence Too much vaccine/autism monkey business for me to be involved in--but evidently not Laura Hewitson
    1. Because all vaccines now are   thimerosal-free, Hewitson had to add thimerosal to the vaccines to produce its replication of the vaccine schedule from the 1990s. 
    2. Because Macaque monkeys mature faster than humans, the macqcques received in one year what humans receive in four years.
15. July 16 2010 ToddW at Harpocrates Speaks Newsflash!  Vaccines Cause Autism...If you are Scientifically Illiterate
    1. On the small sample size, ethics of animal experimentation, and institutional review: "If the sample size is going to be so small that no statistically significant or meaningful results can be found, then there is no reasonable justification for subjecting animals to the research"
16. July 26, 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain Laura Hewitson has left the University of Pennsylvania
17. July 27, 2010 Emily Willingham at A Life Less Ordinary In the Name of Science

 

Huzzah! Square8 Has Returned to Blogging

One of my all-time favorite bloggers is and was Bev at Square8*.  Bev took a hiatus from blogging for a career-change, but she's back!

If you have a new autism diagnosis, or have a child newly diagnosed, reading through her archive might be really useful.  Some of the posts that have really advanced my understanding are:

• For Parents It's an introduction to neurodiversity and an introduction to why "cure" talk is so painful to autistics
• I Am Joe's Functioning Label High Functioning Autism (HFA)? Low Functioning Autism (LFA)? "I serve many purposes for people who like to discuss Joe. What I do for Joe himself is less clear, depending often on Joe’s Point of View."
• Scripted Language and Authenticity This essay touches on how a person's ability to use expressive language can vary, day by day, and some of the  functions scripted language can fulvill.

I had better stop, or I will end up indexing the whole of Square8.  But I find the categories Humor and Square Talk. 

Bev has four new posts up:

• Puzzling Excuse Number 128: It Doesn't Represent Autistic People, which is crossposted to the group blog (and project) unpuzzled.net, whose purpose is to collect work by autistic people and allies who oppose the use of the puzzle piece as a symbol for autism.
• Cripples, Idiots, Lepers and Freaks, the first part of Bev's distance participation in the 2012 CUNY Graduate Center English Student Association Conference, “Cripples, Idiots, Lepers, and Freaks: Extraordinary Bodies / Extraordinary Minds.” Bev promises more later.
• Attention a meditation on the month of April, and what needs to be done
• BADD: Connecting the Dots  BADD is the acronym for "Blogging Against Disablism Day" -- May 1st --and is in honor of Katie McCarron (2002-2006)

 

Go and read and laugh and be challenged and learn.

---

*formerly AspergersSquare8--she dropped the Aspergers when the news about the DSM5 dropping Asperger's as a diagnostic category came out.

"40 Reasons" An Anti-vaccination polemic debunked

The original document is called 40 Reasons Why You Should Never Vaccinate Infants, by Jagannath Chatterjee, an Indian anti-vaccination activist.  The list was being circulated earlier this year, so Autismum took it upon herself to go through the list

• Part 1: Points 1-5
• Part 2: Points 6-12 and 22 (are you surprised that Chatterjee repeats his nonsense?)
• Part 3: Points 13-18 and 22 (it's the mercury!--a totally failed hypothosis)

I will continue posting the installments as Autismum posts them.

 

 

 

Altitude Media and American Airlines Allow Meryl Dorey to Lie about Vaccines, Autism

Update from @AmericanAir

@lizditz This interview has not been submitted to AA yet. We have decided not to air this audio. We thank those who shared their opinions.

On April 20, 2012 Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccine Network (AVN) announced that:

Australian Vaccination Network, Inc. Interview to air on all American Airlines flights for July/Aug 2012 

Australia's Vaccination Awareness and Information Service   transcribed the interview.  For the sake of clarity, I will put the interviewer (who at this time is unknown) in green type and indented; Meryl's words  in red type and indented.

ER: The debate over vaccinations has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years as questions have been raised regarding the safety of compulsory vaccines. And joining us now to give her view is Meryl Dorey. Meryl is president of the Australian Vaccination Network, as well as editor of Living Wisdom magazine, and we’re delighted to welcome her to The Executive Report. Meryl, welcome to the show.

The "questions about the safety of compulsory vaccinations" are raised only by those who oppose vaccinations and whose goals are the elimination of vaccine programs.

Why did the Executive Report choose to interview Ms. Dorey, a woman with only a high-school diploma and no known training in immunology, vaccinology, or epidemiology? Ms. Dorey's problems with telling the truth and accuracy about vaccines and did I mention her little fundraising problem and her other little fundraising problem? And that other one. I would like to know why. 

Meryl: Thanks very much.

ER: Now Meryl, vaccines are designed to repress disease but there’s been some recent issues with the whooping cough vaccine that might be a sign of things to come. What’s going on there?

Why are they asking this ignorant woman?  Why not someone from Immunise Australia or Professor Peter McIntyre or Julie Leask or even Tom Sidwell, a PhD candidate in immunology who is a gifted science writer?

Meryl: Well, vaccines are made to create antibodies, and antibodies only mean that you’ve been exposed to a disease; they don’t mean that you’re immune.

My jaw dropped when I read that.  On the whole, having the disease and having the vaccine against the disease activate the same immune response.  Ms. Dorey is a "vaccine expert" and can spout such easily refutable nonsense?

And what we’ve found with the whooping cough vaccine is that, yes, it is creating the antibodies, but it’s also bringing a new disease, a new form of whooping cough to the fore and this form of disease is not covered by the vaccine.

This is just crazy talk and completely inaccurate.  What is accurate:

• Since 2005, we've known that "infection-acquired immunity against pertussis disease wanes after 4-20 years and protective immunity after vaccination wanes after 4-12 years"
• We know that the acellular pertussis vaccine only has an effectiveness rate of 80-85%
• Evidence for "new disease" is faint 
• Yes, some of the genotypes have shifted, but the shift doesn't seem to affect the potency of the vaccine.

This is what science does: continue to grow, to address problems.  

So in the United States and overseas we’re seeing record numbers of cases of this whooping cough.

Yes, California had whooping cough  in 2010 but in 2011 not so much.  Why? Think the adolescent booster campaign had anything to do with it? And gee, only 11% of Australian adults are current on vaccines (including a pertussis vaccine in the prior ten years).  Do you think the low vaccination rate might have something to do with the pertussis epidemic in Australia?

We’re seeing more cases than we’ve had since before the vaccine was introduced

She has made this claim before and had it thoroughly debunked. She's lying, pure and simple. Furthermore, Dorey is ignoring the changes and advances in diagnostic techniques, such as PCR, have made in reported rates.

and it’s a much more dangerous disease.

This is an assertion without evidence. "Whooping cough deaths were higher during the 1990s". 

So for the first time in decades we’re seeing babies die. So the vaccine’s not working and we’re seeing similar situations with measles and mumps and we may see this with more diseases into the future. So we need to look at what we’re doing.

Babies have been dying of pertussis all along: "From 1993 – 2008, 16 babies under 12 months lost their lives to pertussis. Fatalities continue right up to the present day." So Dorey's claim of: "...first time in decades" a flat lie.   "Vaccine not working"?  And the measles and mumps vaccines "aren't working" claim is an easily refutable lie.

ER: Now what’s your view on the state of autism as it relates to vaccinations?

Why are they asking this woman with a high-school education and no expertise in autism?  Wouldn't they have been better off asking an expert like Bruce Tonge?

Meryl: Well, autism has been related to vaccination in the medical literature for a very long time,

No it hasn't.  A simple search for vaccine autism on PubMed reveals only 4 citations prior to 1998, including a review of Harris Coulter's 1993 crank screed against vaccination. but that's hardly "medical literature".   The vaccine-autism connection was first,  Wakefield's MMR theory in 1998, and then the equally flawed mercury theory in 2001.  Both have been evaluated in studies having hundreds of thousands subjects, and no connection has been found.

but the study that everybody talks about is the one by Andrew Wakefield that was printed in 1998 in the Lancet. And this study says that the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine maybe a cause of autism. A lot of people are saying that this journal article has been discredited

Yes.  Even the majority of Wakefield's co-authors withdrew their names from the paper, six years after publication.   The paper was finally retracted in 2011.  Wakefield falsified data.

but what they’re ignoring is the fact that since this original paper was published, there have been many other papers verifying this finding.

Dorey can't even get her misinformation (actually, lies) right. No paper has replicated Wakefield's "autistic entercolitis" finding.  No paper has replicated the MMR-autism link. No paper has replicated any gut-autism causation.

So again, we have the question “are vaccines related to autism?”. We’ve had an increase of autism from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 88, and the only common denominator seems to be the increasing use of vaccinations.

"The only common denominator"? No, no and again no.  Do I have to say it again?  Vaccines do not cause autism. (A nice list of things that have changed since the 1980s)

Here are some of the factors in increased identification of autism:

• What about diagnostic expansion? (Here's the difference across DSM I through IV)
• What about diagnostic substitution?
• What about underdiagnosis in the past?
• What about improved ascertainment?
• What about the addition of autism as a special education category?
• What about increased awareness, or "social influence"?

I'm sure this list isn't exhaustive. It just goes to show how wrong Ms. Dorey is.

So we need to look at this openly and not try and suppress the information.

For my money, the autism and vaccines question has been addressed about as openly as possible.  Who is suppressing "information"?  Nothing is being "suppressed".  The facts are that MMR vccines do not cause autism. Mercury in vaccines does not cause autism. The two together don't cause autism. 

ER: So Meryl, what do you feel we should do to ensure the wellbeing of all children?

Meryl: Well, vaccination is a medical procedure and it carries with it risks and benefits. So parents need to be aware of all of the information. We need to have real access to information

I wonder if Meryl knows how to use PubMed, or the Pink Book.  And hey!  There's the internet, with resources like the National Network for Immunization Information  and Every Child by Two and Vaccinate Your Baby and the Vaccine Education Center at CHOP and more.  If that's not "real access to information" I don't know what is.

and vaccination should never be compulsory because it is not 100% safe,

Nirvana fallacy! Nothing is "100%".  However, driving your child to a doctor's appointment which would include vaccination is riskier than having the vaccine.

and no government has the right to say “you have to put your child’s health at risk because we have made this procedure compulsory”.

It  has been shown again and again that vaccines are a very low-risk medical intervention.  Vaccines do not put a "child's health at risk".  In fact, failing to vaccinate significantly raises the risk of illness for your child. 

Vaccines have not been subjected to true double-blind trials. They need to be done. They’ve also never been scientifically tested independently. Most vaccine trials, like most drug trials, are paid for by the pharmaceutical companies that makes the vaccines. We need the government to take a stand on this. And most importantly, we need this study that we’ve been asking for for decades, which compares the overall health of the fully-vaccinated with the fully-unvaccinated.

The famous study.  I know the anti-vaccine brigade "have been asking for it" since 1998 or so, but have never accepted why it would be unethical.  And the natural experiments have been done, and found the vaccinated children are healthier.

And when that study is done, parents will finally have confidence to say, “yes, we’re going to vaccinate because we feel it’s in our child’s best interests”.

ER: Meryl, this has been very informative. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us today.

Meryl: Thank you.

ER: Visit the Australian Vaccination Network online at avn.org.au

Updated to Add:

The following three documents were compiled by Australian Ken McLeod 2010-2011, with assistance from many.

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part I

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part II

Meryl Dorey's Trouble With The Truth, Part III

The interview will appear on American Airline's in-flight "Executive Briefing".  This is produced for American Airlines by Altitude Media. I wonder who, and how, the interview was set up, considering how bad Ms. Dorey misrepresents the facts.

The Executive Report is hosted by Stephanie Riggio and Gary Stevens and features conversations with those on the leading edge of a wide variety of industries.

Altitude Media, Inc. has established itself as the leader in in-flight entertainment programming, branded content and production services.

Our high-quality business content targets the executive business traveler and is heard on major airlines, the Airport TV Network and the web.

Our radio shows are magazine style — a blend of CEO interviews, industry spotlights and major business trends. As with any magazine, each show contains a lead cover interview as well as a variety of ongoing features, spotlights and special interest topics.

We are proud to deliver unparalleled programming that addresses the needs and interests of millions of travelers and contributes to making each passenger’s flight an enriching experience.

Contact information:

 Marc Holland, CEO
Elizabeth Montgomery, Executive Producer
Altitude Media, Inc.
4111 West Alameda Avenue, Suite 505
Burbank, CA 91505
Phone: 818-762-6400
Fax: 818-688-0111

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Altitude-Media-Inc/212342082158557

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/altitudemedia https://twitter.com/#!/MarcHollandLA

Ms. Dorey also said that she will "will also be published in the Airlines' American Way in-flight magazine over this period."

 

American Way® is the in-flight magazine of American Airlines and a trusted companion of customers for more than 40 years. American Way, available to every customer on every American Airlines flight, consistently delivers award-winning content and design that covers the latest trends in travel, lifestyle, and business. And to earn the attention of frequent fliers, it publishes twice each month, on the 1st and again on the 15th.

Contact information:

 Susan Stahl Gordon PRESIDENT AND GROUP PUBLISHER, American Airlines Publishing

Michael Woody, Publisher, American Way Magazine
Adam Pitluk Editor, American Way Magazine

EDITORIAL OFFICES
4333 Amon Carter Blvd., MD 5374

Fort Worth, TX 76155

Editorial Department Phone (817) 967-1784
Editorial Department Fax (817) 967-1571

Letters to the Editor E-mail editor@americanwaymag.com

http://www.americanwaymag.com/

https://twitter.com/#!/americanway

 

Sources:

• Media release: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Media-Release—AVN-Information-to-air-on-American-Airlines.html?soid=1101800214009&aid=dZ_4B3ToI5c
• Interview (mp3): American Airlines interview with Meryl Dorey
• American Airlines Interview Meryl Dorey http://www.antivaxxers.com/?p=4668

Please vote for The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism at Babble's "Top 30 Autism Spectrum Blogs" poll

There's a website called Babble:

"Babble.com is the best online resource for parents, providing exceptional service content and incisive, honest essays about parenting."

They run several "best of blogs" contests, and The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism blog has been nominated.

Please vote for The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism as a "Top 30 Autism Blog":

http://www.babble.com/baby/baby-development/top-autism-blog-nominate/index.aspx

To vote, click on the link above, scroll down to The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism's entry, and click on the thumbs-up icon to the right.  You don't have to sign up or anything, just go to the site and click.

The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism is a  book and blog project that provides positive, evidence-based information from parents, professionals, and autistics themselves. Our new book has received rave "Book of the Year" reviews from autism luminaries: http://thinkingautismguide.blogspot.com/p/press.html,

but most importantly we keep hearing from folks encountering new autism diagnoses that our book is a lifesaver. 

We also promote evidence-based approaches, e.g., legitimate science (our science editor wrote The Idiot's Guide to College Biology). 

Thank you for your support.

When Companies Seek To Muzzle Critics: The Celltex Edition with Glenn McGee

Celltex Therapeutics is a company that "grows and banks stem cells"  that are harvested from the ultimate recipient's body fat (an autologous transplant).   The company came to national attention when it was revealed that it had provided the services that allowed Rick Perry to be injected with his own stem cells, in an effort to relieve back pain.

In 1999, bioethicist Glenn McGee founded the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB); he was the editor-in-chief of the journal at the same time he was the president of strategic initiatives for Celltex Therapeutics, as this December 15, 2011 news article makes clear.  First, McGee resigned from the editorship of AJOB (but announced he would remain as a consultant until mid-March), then he resigned from Celltex.

On February 17, 2012 Slate published an article. “The Celltex Affair: An Ethics Scandal Strikes the World of Bioethics,”  a critique of McGee's relationship with Celltex and Celltex's conduct, written by University of Minnesota bioethicist Carl Elliott.   The article was retracted on February 29, 2012.  Ivan Oransky reports that Slate's retraction was driven by fear of litigation.

Between February 14, 2012  and March 9, 2012, University of Minnesota bioethicist Leigh Turner wrote a series of blog posts detailing l'affaire McGee and other concerns about Celltex's ethical conduct.  On February 21, 2012, Turner sent a letter to the FDA, outlineing concerns that he and others had about Celltex. The letter was on the University of Minnesota's letterhead, which of course Turner, as a professor, had the right to use.  In the letter, Turner " expressed concerns about patient-client safety, the quality of scientific research supporting their proposed business model, and whether both will conform to relevant federal and state laws and regulations. "

Celltex responded on March 9, 2012,  having their attorneys write a letter to the President of the University of Minnesota:

On March 22, 2012 the university responded by letter, which Ed Silverman of Pharmalot summarized 

In a closely watched move, the University of Minnesota has written attorneys for Celltex Therapeutics to say that one of its professors, who recently asked the FDA to investigate the practices of the stem cell company, was speaking only for himself, although he is protected by school policies on academic freedom.

After the U Minn response, a number of other ethicists decided upon a "I am Spartacus" action, each sending their own letter to the FDA outlining their concerns about Celltex.  Carl Elliot at the Chronicle of Education has the complete list.

On April 4, 6 and 9, William Heisel of Reporting on Health interviewed Leigh Turner. The first interview focused on medical tourism.  The second part focused on what, exactly are the issues that Glenn McGee's actions raise?  The final installment covers both the "I Am Spartacus" response from bloggers, and the Streisand Effect -- or how Celltex's effort to intimidate Turner (and Elliot) into silence has backfired.

 The Autism Connection

Note: There are at least two issues in "stem cells and autism".  One is using stem cells from autistic individuals for research purposes, which is non-controversial.  The other is quite controversial -- stem cells as "therapy" the idea that infusing autologous or allogeneic stem cells into an autistic person bloodstream or cerebrospinal  could improve their symptoms.

Back in January, 2010, Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness wrote a critique of "Stem Cell Therapy for Autism"

In growing numbers, people are taking their autistic children to “clinics” - in Costa Rica, in Germany, in Russia - to get “stem cell” injections. I put “stem cell” inside inverted commas because it is not entirely clear that what these children are receiving are actual stem cells.

Sources, Stem Cell Transplantation as an Autism Treatment; Medical Tourism in Autism

• June 27 2007 Ichem et al. Stem Cell Therapy for Autism (Journal of Translational Medicine 2007, 5:30 doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-30)
• May 15 2008 Yahoo Group Stem Cell For Autism 2 founded
• 2008 KCR3 (Sacramento CA) Parents Hope Stem Cells Help Autistic Son; Family Travelling to Costa Rica (Matthew Faiella)
• June 8 2009 PRWeb Open Letter to President Obama on Stem Cell Therapy for Autism (Lauren DiCorci, treated at XCell-Center in Germany)
• January 26 2010 Prometheus at Photon in the Darkness Stem Cell Therapy for Autism
• February 10 2010 Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain Stem Cell Therapy for Autism
• April 13, 2010 Wolffe Nadoolman MD at the Empathic Pediatrician Stem Cells for Autism?
• June 2010 Yahoo Group StemCellDR founded 
• June 4 2010 Robb Sipp at Stem Cell Treatment Monitor (expanded title) Institute for Cellular Medicine in Costa Rica Closed.
• June 25, 2010 Rob Poindexter at WABI-5 Stem Cell Treatment Doing Wonders For Autistic Glenburn Boy (Kenneth Kelley treated by in Costa Rica)
• August 2010 Infant being treated at XCell Center in Dusseldorf Germany Dies
• December 15, 2010 Guest Blogger at LeftBrain/RightBrain The Peril of Parent Testimony – Stem Cell Treatment for Autism (Matthew Faiella, treated in Panama)
• December 16, 2010 Orac at Respectful Insolence: Stem Cell quackery for autism, revisited (Matthew Faiella, treated in Panama)
• May 8 2011 at The Telegraph XCell Center in Dusseldorf Closed
• January 8 2012 60 Minutes: Stem Cell Fraud (Dan Ecklund MD in Ecuador)

• February 1 2012 Mark Johnson at the Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee) Beike Biotechnology in China: When children have terrible diseases, some relatives turn to unproven stem cell injections, but experts worry about this approach
• February 1 2012 Meg Kissinger at the Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee) On Beike Biotechnology in China  The Internet has helped companies spread the word of 'miracle' recoveries, but families have to tread carefully 

 

Sources, L'affaire Glenn McGee

• June 16, 2008 Brendan Borell at Scientific American An Unethical Ethicist?
• July 7, 2008 Brendan Borell at Scientific American Alden March Bioethics Institute Picks Up the Pieces After Glenn McGee's Ouster
• January 29, 2012 Doug Sipp at Stem Cell Treatment Monitor Stem Cell Graft, Texas Style
• February 13, 2012 Press Release from CellTex Celltex Announces Glenn McGee, Ph.D. as President of Ethics and Strategic Initiatives 
• February 14, 2012 Leigh Turner at Health in the Global Village Glenn McGee and The Internet Adjustment BureauFebruary 
• February 18, 2012 Michael Cook at Bioedge: American bioethics shaken by dispute over conflict of interest
• February 22, 2012 William Heisel at Reporting on Health Question Authority: A Bioethics Journal Controversy Reminds Writers to Be Wary
• February 25, 2012 Leigh Turner at Health in the Global Village CellTex, RNL Bio, Stem Cells & Governor Rick Perry–CellTex’s “Debut Client”
• February 26, 2012 Leigh Turner at Health in the Global Village CellTex Partner RNL Bio Promotes Stem Cell “Tourism”
• February 28, 2012 Leigh Turner at Health in the Global Village Celltex is not just another “stem cell company
• February 29, 2012 David Cyranoski at Nature: Stem-cell therapy takes off in Texas: A boom in unproven procedures is worrying scientists.
• February 29, 2012 Ed Silverman at Pharmalot A Bioethics Journal And Questionable Ethics?
• March 1 2012  Ed Silverman at Pharmalot McGee Resigns From Celltex: I Have Had ‘Enough’ 
• March 1 2012 Ivan Oransky at Retraction Watch Updated: Slate retracts story on Glenn McGee and Celltex following lawsuit threats, as McGee resigns from company 
• March 1 2012 William Heisel at Reporting on Health Slap: Pressure From Politically-Connected Stem Cell Firm Celltex Leads To Slate Retraction
• March 9 2012  Leigh Turner at Health in the Global Village An Inside Job: How The American Journal of Bioethics Was Destroyed 
• March 12 2012 Ed Silverman at Pharmalot Celltex Muscles Ethics Professor For Contacting FDA
• March 18 2012 Carl Elliot at Chronicle of Higher Education University of Pennsylvania Prof to Celltex: ‘I am Spartacus’
• March 23 2012 Ed Silverman at Pharmalot (expanded title) University of Minnesota to Celltex: Professor Leigh Turner Has Academic Freedom
• March 29 2012 Tom Mischke at Fear and Loathing in Bioethics The Mischke Interview: Celltex says, "Let’s take on this little man by himself and squash him.”
• April 4 2012 William Heisel at Reporting on Health Q&A with Leigh Turner: Tracking Medical Tourism Consequences
• April 6, 2012 Q&A with Leigh Turner, Part 2: Finding Ethical Quandaries Amid Academic Rivalries

 

Autism: Seeking a Cure vs Seeking Greater Ability and Acceptance

I have a friend, one of whose children has autism. My friend is seeking acceptance and understanding for his child; his wife is intent upon a "cure".  This is from my friend.

My child says, "No one likes me. No one appreciates me. I'm miserable." This is why we need autism acceptance, not just "awareness."

My child says, "I don't have any friends. No one likes my differences." This is why we need autism acceptance, not just "awareness."

My wife’s response? She goes on and on about how autism is a “developmental disability” and “isn’t it better not to be disabled than to be disabled” and “why wouldn’t we want to prevent this if we can?” She constantly challenges me, “How can we stop this? Why shouldn’t we? Don’t you think people would rather be healthy than not healthy?”

She brings up things like depression: “Shouldn’t we try to prevent THAT?” I suggest that autism isn’t the same, that autistic people are hurt when she says things like this, that “preventing autism in future generations” is the same as saying “the current generation of autistic people is a mistake.” She pulls out the “they’re not really autistic if they’re able to express their ideas” argument.

“By definition it’s a disability,” she says. “I know people who struggle with problems--problems they have because they’re autistic.” Yes, I say. Then let’s help them with their problems. But they’re still going to be autistic. I guess she thinks that if you’re able to function tolerably well, then you’re not really autistic.

She says she knows some autistic people who wish they weren’t autistic, who would like to wipe out autism. Who? I ask. Jake Crosby, she answers.

And then back to causation. Endlessly, causation. Looking backwards. Not putting time and effort and resources into supports and therapies for people and families who ALREADY EXIST and who NEED HELP. No. Putting time and effort and resources into convincing people not to vaccinate their kids so they “won’t have to go through what we go through.”

My heart aches for my friend and his child.

For quite different views see

•  Autism Acceptance Day Month blog (mostly autistics); 
•  Autism Acceptance Facebook page (mostly autistics); 
• Shannon Rosa at BlogHer on April is Autism Acceptance Month; 
• the Born This Way Facebook page (mostly parents talking about their children);
• Steve Silberman's Autism Awareness Is Not Enough: Here's How to Change the World (15 autistics and autism allies, each with unique suggestions); 
• the posts at The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism; 
• Care versus Cure at Spectrum Views at Spectrum Views;  and  
• Autism Acceptance Month at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN).  

There's a lot more.

 

Listening to Louise Kuo Habakus at a "Vaccine Epidemic" Booksigning and Talk

A version was previously posted here

 On March 29, 2012, Louise Kuo Habakus spoke at a local bookstore, presenting on the "findings" from the book she co-edited with Mary Holland.  I went with Shannon Rosa and Jennifer Byde Myers.  The presentation was scheduled for two hours; we left in disgust after 40 minutes.

Some of the highlights from Habakus's talk:

Did you know that Louise Kuo Habakus is an expert on data analysis from her years on Wall Street, and she knows you "can take data and make it say anything you want it to say" so "all corporate studies are suspect"?

That's a pretty slick little piece of poisoning the well.  The dozens of studies with hundreds of thousands of subjects that have failed to find a connection between autism and vaccines are "all corporate studies". 

Did you know that there are "a lot of credentialed professionals who question vaccine safety"?

Here Habakus is referring to the contributors to her book.  There are a mort of attorneys; the health professions are represented by  Sherri Tenpenny, Andrew Wakefield, Carol Stott, Judy Converse, Vera Hassner Sharav, Sonja Hintz, Twila Brase, and Gay Tate.  I think we need a "Project Steve"  for physicians and scientists who support and advance vaccination, immunology, and prevent infectious disease. Maybe we could call it Project Paul.

Did you know it is common for people who use non-allopathic methods to heal their children's vaccine injuries to be reported to Child Protective Services and have their children taken away?

This scare tactic has to do with the so-called "Arizona Five".  The court recently heard the case and found that, contrary to parents' beliefs and actions, all 5 children are healthy and non-autistic.  Having one's children removed by CPS for using alternative medicine  is probably rare.  I am sure we would hear about more stories if they existed, given how noisy vaccine-rejectionist are.

Did you know that "rotavirus is not deadly in the United States"?

Oh whoops.  That is a big whopper.  From the CDC pre-vaccine:

"In the first 5 years of life, four out of five children in the United States will develop rotavirus diarrhea; one in seven will require a clinic or emergency room visit; one in 78 will require hospitalization; and one in 200,000 will die from rotavirus diarrhea. The risk for rotavirus diarrhea and its outcomes do not appear to vary by geographic region within the United States."

Did you know that "50% of the children are chronically ill" and these illnesses are linked to the "bloated vaccine schedule"?

In this segment of the talk Habakus went over the dreaded 1-in-6 statistic and added in asthma, diabetes (type not specified), food allergies, and obesity.  The very next slide showed the increase in vaccines given from 1983 to the present, and Habakus looked out at the audience and said something like, "do you think it's a coincindence?"  Grr.  Of course she didn't talk about the decrease in morbidity and mortality that the "bloated" vaccine schedule affords children -- and their families.  Nor did she mention that since the number of antigens in vaccines given today is only about 4% of  what I child would have received in the 1980s.

Source: Offit et al. (2002) Addressing Parents’ Concerns: Do Multiple Vaccines Overwhelm or Weaken the Infant’s Immune System? Pediatrics  2002;109;124-129 DOI: 10.1542/peds.109.1.124   & click to embiggen.

Did you know that the "Vaccine Court" rejected the claims of the 5,000 families claiming autism as vaccine injury and nobody bothered to study the children who were injured.

This non sequitur had me shaking my head.  The Omnibus Cases were the best shot the "autism is vaccine injury" camp had to make their case, and they failed dismally.  The only thing the 5,000 (or so) had in common was: recruited by vaccine injury lawyers and/or a belief that their child's autism was caused by vaccines.  Why would those children be more appropriate to study than the children in this study or this study or this study?

Did you know there's still thimerosal in vaccines? Yes there is, because it is used in the manufacture of vaccines (to disinfect the disgusting vats of soupy growth media) and it is so neurotoxic that even 2 parts per billion can kill brain cells. Mercury is "so toxic that it shouldn't be used at all"?

What part of thimerosal doesn't cause autism is so hard to accept?  What part of "the dose makes the poison" is so hard to understand? 

Did you know that Tylenol is a potent hepatoxin? So if you give Tylenol to an infant after vaccination, the liver is all busy detoxifying the Tylenol so all the nasty toxins in the vaccines aren't filtered.

This is a gross paraphrase of what Habakus said.  It was something about Tylenol (acetaminophen) "using up" all the liver's stores of glutathione, so that the "toxins" in vaccines are able to damage the brain and the body.  There's Whale.to page on acetaminophen and glutathione, and a report on acetaminophen poisoning using glutatione as therapy.  Acetaminophen, MMR, and autism study discussed here; note the study was published in 2008 and has not been repeated. 

Did you know that Paul Offit is paid by the vaccine companies to spend all his time going around promoting vaccines?

A random, ad hominem attack on Paul Offit.  It really does seem that to anti-vaccinationists, he is a myffic figure of dread

Did you know that studies proving that the HepB vaccine causes autistic-like changes in infant macaque brains was suppressed by the vaccine industry?

I had a hard time suppressing my double eyeball-roll on this one.  There was the infamous Hewiston macaque study, Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight, (Hewitson et al. 2009) which was withdrawn before publication.  Before it was withdrawn,  David Gorski MD eviscerated the paper on October 8, 2009.   Life sciences professor Prometheus wrote on October 24, 2009  that it was a paper designed for litigation and "This study raises more red flags than a Kremlin May Day parade in the old Soviet Union. " The study, however, got a lot of play by the "autism is vaccine injury" camp. On  February 11 2010 Orac returned to discussing the study, in "Show me the monkeys," but then notices the paper was withdrawn, as Prometheus discusses.  In July 2012 Sullivan reported that Hewitson left her academic appointment.

The other two studies, Hepatitis B Vaccination Of Male Neonates And Autism Diagnosis, NHIS 1997–2002 (Gallagher & Goodman 2010  J Toxicol EnvironHealth A. 2010;73(24):1665-77)  and Hepatitis B Triple Series Vaccine and Developmental Disability in US children aged 1-9 years (Gallagher & Goodman 2008 Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry Vol. 90, No. 5, September–October 2008, 997–1008) were even weaker than the Hewitson study, if that's possible. Sullivan dismisses both the 2008 study and the 2010 study  dismissed .  Orac discusses the other Hewitt macaque study, which was truly awful.   In 2008, Kev detailed Hewitson's gross conflicts of interest.

Did you know that adjuvants are used in vaccines because they are cheaper than antigenic material? (This argument was made three times.)

Silly me.  I thought adjuvants  serve to:

• bring the antigen—the substance that stimulates the specific protective immune response—into contact with the immune system and influence the type of immunity produced, as well as the quality of the immune response (magnitude or duration);
• decrease the toxicity of certain antigens; 
• and provide solubility to some vaccines components.

Did you know that "our immune systems didn't evolve to handle injected substances" so anything administered by injection harms the immune system?

What?  I think this is some sort of chiropractic talking point, as well as being an article of faith among vaccine rejectionists.  It's a false claim, of course.

Did you know that doctors aren't "taught what vaccine injury is, so they aren't in the mindset that vaccine injury can occur?" and "most doctors don't know about VAERS" so don't tell patients to use it.

Evidence-free reasoning at its best.  VAERS has been covered in Pediatrics.  Vincent Iannelli MD, the About.com source on pediatrics, has a page on how and why to report adverse vaccine reactions to VAERS.

Did you know that the number of doses of Tdap required proves that the vaccine doesn't work?

Science evolves.  Anti-science doesn't.

Did you know that "health can't come through a needle"?

A direct quote from Sherri Tenpenny, anti-vaccination advocate.

Did you know that "there were diseases that went away without vaccines" and "the large drop in disease deaths was due to improved santitation and hygiene, not vaccines".

This one was the famous slide showing decreased MORTALITY (caution, goes to Whale.to) but somehow, the MORBIDITY figures, which only declined after vaccination aren't part of the presentation.

Did you know that vaccination can "only temporarily prevent you getting the disease".

Guess what?  Natural infection with chickenpox doesn't provide 100% protection from a later case of the disease either.  Neither does natural infection with whooping cough.

Did you know that "varicella infection [in early childhood] matures and primes the immune system"? (There was more about the relationship between shingles and the varicella vaccine but I didn't write it down.)

This sounds like pure anthroposophy.   But it is a quote from the odious Viera Scheibner's  Immunizations: The Medical Assault on the Immune System ... "there is no need to protect children from these childhood diseases. These diseases are there to prime and mature their immune system.” .

Did you know that as US vaccination "became more bloated, our rates of infant mortality also went up"? 

Actually, this was interesting. LKH posted a table and one of the doulas present questioned her about infant mortality in third world countries; that the US would have a higher rate of mortality because we could try to sustain very-low-birthweight infants. LKH sidestepped and flashed the next slide.  But the study purporting to "show" this (Miller, N., & Goldman, G. (2011). Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses routinely given: Is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity? Human & Experimental Toxicology DOI: 10.1177/0960327111407644) has been taken apart by Respectful Insolence, ("The current study joins a long list of poorly planned, poorly executed, poorly analyzed studies that purport to show that vaccines cause autism, neurological diease, or even death. ")

Did you know that McDonald and Paul proved that the increase in vaccines are linked to the autism epidemic?

This one, too, had me rolling my eyes.  Sullivan at LeftBrain/RightBrain had the best demolition of the methods ("The paper has made very little, if any, impact on the scientific community. But it has become part of the stable of poor quality papers used by those claiming that vaccines caused an autism epidemic.")

Did you know that the safety of aluminum in vaccines has never been studied?

Wrong again.  Still wrong.

At that point, we left.

That's all the bad news. The good news: Despite extensive publicity, the support of a large group of home-birth advocates, and 300 personal invitations, the audience numbered about 15 people, not including the three of us.

Other views on the book:

Part I: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

Part II: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

Part III: Review of book launch for Vaccine Epidemic

I'd forgotten about this from The Path Guy: Anti-Immunization Activists: A Pattern of Deception.

Ignorance adds to Stigma, Round #6,023: The Autism Gravy-Train

It's the tired, sad old story lie that parents seek diagnoses for the gravy-train of benefits and living large at public expense. As ebohlman wrote last year

Rush Limbaugh has done more than anyone else to promote the notion that childhood disabilities are primarily a tool for parents to collect welfare benefits. It’s a total staple of right-wing talk radio (along with the notion that most childhood disabilities are the result of mothers using illegal drugs).

One of Orac's regular commenters, who is a dauntless woo-fighter, really disappointed me with this comment:

Being labeled as handicapped, can also make the child eligible for SSI and Medicaid. There is also a quirk in the Social Security Law, that permits a parent who has paid into Social Security for 40 quarters (10 years), to claim Social Security Disability for themselves...based on caring for a disabled child. There are many ways to game the system, if one is so inclined and, this might be a factor in the increased incidence of autism, in some instances.

I responded with: lilady, while I admire you, this comment is offensive to autistics and to autism parents. It was offensive when Allen Frances made the same claim [see Sharon at the Awful Truth, Emily at A Life Less Ordinary, and Sarah at Kitsaika Sandwich]  and it was offensive when Sue Basko made the claim [Sullivan at Leftbrain/Rightbrain and my blog here and here . There's not a shred of evidence that parents are seeking an autism diagnosis to game the system, and a great deal of evidence that many kids aren't getting needed early intervention services.

Jon Brock, an autism researcher, on autism and intellectual disability:

As we saw last time, a good chunk of the kids failed to meet DSM-5 criteria for ASD. However, kids with intellectual disability were much more likely to be diagnosed with ASD than were those with IQs above 70. This is the opposite of what we’d expect if DSM-5 really was going to selectively exclude the intellectually disabled.

In another article, Brock discussed Pervasive Developmental Delay - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and the DSM-5, particularly the requirement that to be classified as autistic, a person must exhibit both social/language difficulties andrepetitive and stereotyped behaviors (RSBs)

There is certainly a case to be made that children are being over-diagnosed and that the boundaries for autism-related disorders should be brought in. However, there is also a real danger that individuals with severe social and communication difficulties would be excluded from support and interventions designed to improve their social and communication skills. All because they don’t also have RSBs.

He also discusses the new-with-DSM-5 disorder, Social Communication Disorder (SCD):

Effectively, SCD seems to be official recognition for what researchers and practitioners have previously referred to as "Pragmatic Language Impairment" rather than a replacement for PDD-NOS. The emphasis is very much on the communication side of things, particularly conversation skills, with a suggestion that social difficulties are a secondary consequence of impaired communication. That's my interpretation at least.

Autism Acceptance Month At The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism & Around the Web

Updated: I'm keeping a descriptive list of posts at the bottom

Autistics' Slice of Life: Autism Acceptance Month on The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Because we consider April Autism Acceptance Month, The Thinking Person's Guide to Autism will feature "Slice of Life" conversations with Autistics of all ages -- kids through adults -- for each of the month's remaining 29 days. We will profile a different autistic person every day, answering the same set of questions -- in a similar spirit to (although for copyright purposes otherwise unlike) the Proust questionnaire capping each issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Why? We'd like to help our non-autistic readers get to know autistics aspeople who have interesting, complicated lives, and who are as diverse and varied as any other random population united by a label. We are the people in each others' neighborhoods, and the more we know about each other, the more visible we and our children are, the more common Autism Acceptance will be. That is our hope.

The other great thing going on is Paula C. Durbin-Westby's Autism Acceptance Day and Month:

• The blog, Autism Acceptance Day
• The Facebook page, Autism Acceptance Day

You can read an interview with Paula at Accepting autism: More awareness not the need

Posts at TPGA with a few words describing each autistic person (from their interview):

• Monday April 2: Aisling Alley: pre-teen artist, actor, video games and travel.  (Her mom's blog)
• Tuesday April 3:  Monkey: pre-teen who loves math, animals, and don't forget the Minecraft and Yu-Gi-Oh. (His mom's blog)
• Wednesday April 4 Michael Drejer Danish aspie who loves movies; "handling the NT world is definitely a superpower." (@maialideth)
• Thursday April 5 Dusya Lyubovskaya Diagnosed at 27, finally found understanding and acceptance; helping  people makes her happy (blog)
• Friday April 6 Lydia Brown College student and writer who loves languages, inter-religious dialog, and autism activism. (blog and activism page)
• Saturday April 7 Matthew Shumaker A gardener with a keen appreciation for good tools; loves to travel to new states. 
• Sunday April 8 Kassiane Sibley Gymnastics, humor, academics, teaching, and especially advocacy for autistic kids and adults (blog,  @UVGKassi)
• Monday April 9 Jack pre-teen teen hockey player, video game enthusiast, and doughnut connoisseur (His mom's blog)
• Tuesday April 10 Matt Friedman Describing autism through doodles, not words; making friends online; goofy sense of humor   (blog, @dudeImAnAspie )
• Weds April 11:  Lindsay Nebeker: Music, acceptance, solitude, authenticity (@autismisarose, blog)
• Thurs April 12    TH,:  pre-teen who is happy surrounded by acorns, lots of acorns; a place with grizzly bears and bison is a double bonus.
• Friday April 13,  Amy Sequenzia:  autistic self-advocate and poet who uses a device to communicate. (Posts at Ollibean)
• Saturday April 14 Savannah Nicole Logsdon-Breakstone   the history and anthropology of disability; advocacy and activism; creative cooking and cats.
• (@nicocoer, blog)