For years, Dan Olmsted has been writing a long and intensely researched journalistic series called "The Age of Autism." Today, he has joined forces with Generation Rescue to create a new daily webzine entitled "The Age of Autism."

Olmsted, like Generation Rescue, is dedicated to the premise that autism is caused by environmental factors including vaccines - and can be cured by biomedical interventions. Here's an excerpt from his first letter from the editor:

Welcome to Age of Autism, the nation's first daily Web newspaper for the environmental-biomedical community – those who believe the autism epidemic is a health crisis that requires urgent action; that autism is an environmentally induced illness, that it is treatable, and that children can recover.

For the most part, the major media in the United States aren't interested in that point of view, they won't investigate the causes and possible biomedical treatments of autism independently, and they don't listen to the most important voices – those of the parents. We will do all those things, and more.

Olmsted has a significant media presence, so it's likely his publication will gain a good deal of notice in the coming weeks and months.

Meanwhile, this past weekend, the National Autism Society (not to be confused with the Autism Society of America) is running its annual conference. Also focused on all things biomedical, this year's conference "stars" Deirdre Imus and Jenny McCarthy and is sponsored by a national Hyperbaric organization (hyperbaric oxygen chambers are one biomedical approach to treating autism).

These events are likely to turn the spotlight even more brightly on the notion that autism is a disorder caused by a combination of vaccines and environmental factors - and curable by a combination of physical interventions. These ideas, of course, fly in the face of the medical mainstream - including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has just announced a plan to require pediatricians to screen for autism twice in a child's first two years.

I've just checked the AAP Website to be sure I have all my facts straight, and see that they have linked directly to the video glossary and other materials created by Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks, of course, focuses most of its tremendous publicity and fundraising on genetic research - and has raised the anger of many biomedical advocates.

Should be an interesting few weeks!