Second Resignation from Autism Speaks Reflects Concerns Over Vaccine-Related Research
Both Singer and London resigned over the same basic issue: vaccines. For a long time, the scientific and administrative leadership at Autism Speaks kept clear of vaccine-related research, based on existing epidemiological research showing no connection between vaccines and autism. But pressure from celebrities and advocacy groups, supported by Katie Wright (daughter of Autism Speaks' founders Bob and Suzanne Wright) have pushed the organization to take up vaccine-related research as a "biologically plausible" cause of some cases of autism.
According to Dr. London's letter:
...the pivotal issue compelling my decision is the position which Autism Speaks is taking concerning vaccinations. The arguments which Dr. Dawson and others assert– that the parents need even further assurances and there might be rare cases of “biologically plausible” vaccine involvement –are misleading and disingenuous. Through its website and other communications, Autism Speaks has been influential and contributory in encouraging parents’ doubts. By preferentially investing and advocating for the use of limited financial resources on the “biological plausibility” argument, the organization is adversely impacting the advancement of autism research.If I read Dr. London's words correctly, his concerns are not just political but also practical. What he's suggesting is that, by encouraging fears of vaccines, Autism Speaks may actually be condemning some children to illness and even death as a result of diseases now considered preventable.Recent reports have documented significant outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases which could have been controlled and even eradicated. The lowering of the vaccination rate has already led to deaths. If Autism Speaks’ misguided stance continues, there will be more deaths and potentially the loss of herd immunity which would result in serious outbreaks of otherwise preventable disease. I further fear that if and when herd immunity is lost, there may be a societal backlash against the autism community.
What do you think of Dr. London's letter? Are you in agreement with his concerns? Share your thoughts!
Comments
Goodbye Dr. Eric London.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Go hang out with Dr. Paul Offit and those other big pharma shills.
How anyone can say for certain that vaccines have nothing to do with autism is beyond me. Only two of the 36 vaccines have ever been tested.
Even Congress is calling for more testing on this matter. Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney submitted a bill recently calling for the FIRST-EVER vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study
http://maloney.house.gov/documents/health/mercury/111_vaccine%20study%20bill.pdf
Your statement “Autism Speaks may actually be condemning” was not strong enough. This is not a “may”. Children HAVE recently died from “common” preventable viruses. What I find is the biggest irony is that some viruses, most notably rubella, can cause birth defects which include autism, so not vaccinating your child, and passing on a virus, can cause someone else’s child to be born with autism symptoms.
I don’t know why people keep citing 36 vaccines but since they do, and since it comes from GR, Generation Rescue then would also be part of that encouraging parents’ doubts and further outbreaks as mentioned in Dr. London’s letter. GR newest video ranks right up there in vaccine fear. How anyone can say for sure autism has anything to do with any one thing is beyond me. Regardless of what has or has not been tested, we do know vaccines prevent the illnesses they were designed for and the majority of those who receive that vaccine doesn’t end up with autism or any ill effects. We learn every day that genetics play a large role in autism.
I believe Dr. London’s concerns are valid, and it is clear out breaks of measles is a result of vaccine fear. I can also see the potential of blaming the autism community in the end, even though allowing vaccines for their own children is the parents choice however human nature is to find a person/ people to blame and the autism/ vaccine issue will be that blame. I think more and more as time goes on people want to get beyond the autism/ vaccine issue or at least find the common ground where autism and out breaks don’t occur. Instead of causing vaccine fear based on autism, why not accurately educate? 36 vaccines is not accurate either. You can still have an unvaccinated child with autism or with out autism, but then contract a childhood illness and die or have long term health issues as a result. Measles is still the leading cause of child death in many developing nations. Measles affects over 30 million children and claims the lives of nearly 800,000, that’s a lot of children under the age of 5. The only prevention through history is that vaccine.
Scary.
London is dead-on. Autism Speaks is losing credibility, and seems destined to become a fringe group. Too bad.
There is no big pharma conspiracy. There *is* lots of fear. Let’s not let fear become superstition.
I think you’ve missed Dr. London’s whole point. He is not accusing Autism Speaks of fear mongering re: vaccines. He is accusing them of misleading the public on the issue of vaccine implications re: autism.
He is saying that by creating smoke and mirrors around the very real issue of causality, more people will be afraid.
By not admitting the truth about the vaccine coorelation in many autism cases, the public will be fearful and stop vaccinating altogether, thus threatening herd immunity.
You did not read Dr. London’s words correctly at all.
Michelle – that’s EXACTLY what I understand London to be saying:
If I read Dr. London’s words correctly, his concerns are not just political but also practical. What he’s suggesting is that, by encouraging fears of vaccines, Autism Speaks may actually be condemning some children to illness and even death as a result of diseases now considered preventable.
Lisa
This is not a good thing. NAAR was, as far as I know, the leading autism organization that funded strong science. The fact that two of NAAR’s most prominent leaders have left the new organization is troubling. Resources are not infinite; why put them into vaccine studies instead of investigating more plausible causes?
Lisa, you got it right. Any intelligent person would see that AS, AoA, GR, and the rest of the anti-vaccination fear mongers have done exactly that: condemn some children to illness and even death as a result of diseases now considered preventable. It ios happening world-wide.
The above list of pro-infectious disease merchants of disability and death have been told time and again, that their “science” isd utterly bogus, and that the quality science, replicated several times, is spot on. They ignore this, and torture logic, manufacture bogus “studies” and abuse reality to promote their nefarious ideas.
The simple fact is that vaccines are far, far safer than getting the wild virus. After reading their garbage for so long, I can only conclude that they prefer dead and disabled children.
Michelle~ this is what I read: By misleading the public on the issue of vaccine implications re: autism, does result in that fear mongering of vaccines and the fear end result being “there will be more deaths and potentially the loss of herd immunity which would result in serious outbreaks of otherwise preventable disease” per Dr. London. When Dr. London said ““biological plausibility” argument, the organization is adversely impacting the advancement of autism research.” he is not admitting the truth about the vaccine correlation, he more or less is saying that ‘argument’ is adversely impacting research.
I think there is a lot more than meets the eye here than a disagreement about a relatively small part of the research AS is involved in funding. The excerpts from Dr. London’s letter you highlight strike me as strange logic, if you can even call it that.
Dr. London asserts that research being done to “reassure parents” that vaccines are indeed being delivered in the safest possible way will actually undermine safety. That is nonsensical. I believe that we currently have a public health construct that has inadequate checks and balances regarding the schedule and an obvious (at least to the medical community) overreliance on industry input when creating policy and identifying research priorities, whether generally or relating to vaccines (think the rush to include gardisil).
Dr. Dawson is not anti-vaccine and neither are the many people (sure there are a few) at AS and elsewhere who want a some funding directed to research plausible vaccine autism links. That anti-vaccine canard designed to demonize anyone who questions current vaccine policy is really unacceptable and offensive.
Second, the notion that simply doing research to identify autism subtypes whose members may have increased risk for negative vaccine side effects (yes, they exist) will cause a wholesale undermining of herd immunity is utter nonsense. This proposition is anti-science.
I don’t know Dr. London and can’t speak to his contributions but do welcome a broader approach from the AS Scientific Advisory Committee. For too long most of the research dollars were focused on genetics…almost exclusively. This initiative, coming from a diverse group of experts who sit on the Committee, all mainstream scientists and researchers with M.D.s and Ph.D.s represents progress to me. Pressure from AoA or Katie Wright or GR? Please. If you think that’s the case, then answer why now and not years ago. AS is in a much stronger position now than it’s ever been to determine it’s own path. Again, the “celebrity” argument is yet another canard from an apparently threatened public health complex, who demonstrate (to me at least) an alarming absence of intellectual curiosity and a misguided sense of fulfilling their mission.
Let’s also not forget that your first “major player” who departed from Autism Speaks was a lightning rod who attracted a wide range of criticism from many quarters in the autism community on a very wide range of issues, and “criticism” may be a generous description. Ms. Singer is also a communications professional, which is about as far from a scientist as one can get.
Although Dr. London is apparently hooking up with her organization over this one issue, I think it’s easy to over dramatize linkage.
Again, I say let’s keep open minds to a lot of avenues of research and not have “sacred cows”. Herd immunity is very important indeed. Best practices should be used to achieve it but let’s not forget that, in fact, herd immunity is achieved at a price. The price is collateral damage (in the form of known adverse reactions.) We may not want to think about it but it’s real. Minimizing, if not eliminating, this damage among vulnerable subgroups in our population or any other, deserves no less focus, attention, or resources. Pretending it doesn’t exist is not a prescription for increased confidence in the system. Additional research is.
Scientific community is speaking out loud.
There were 22 studies published on the subject of vaccines and thimerosal. No link to Autism!
How many more studies would it take to convince Katy/Autism Speaks that there is no evidence linking vaccines to autism? How many more nails in the coffin would it take for Katy/Autism Speaks to realize that the subject is dead. If her daddy were not Bob Wright, would we be having this discussion?
I support Eric London’s decision to sever the malignant relationship with Autism Speaks.
The organization is turning into a joke. No legitimate scientist can support anecdotal data.
Eric London is right! Vaccines do not cause autism. Autism is simply a term from the psychiatric DSM-IV manual. It’s nothing but a smokescreen. It provides an alibi for the drug companies who added mercury to vaccines at levels 250 times higher than hazardous waste levels (based on toxicity characteristics). It provides an alibi for the CDC, FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the other drug company cronies who are responsible for the safety of our children. It provides an alibi for the pediatricians who administered this poison. It provides an alibi for health insurance companies so they don’t have to pay for treatment for these sick kids. It provides an alibi for psychiatrists so they can force powerfull anti-psychotic drugs on these kids who are already terribly confused.
There will never be an identifiable cause for autism. There are though 12 published papers which identify the underlying medical condition of autism as neuroinflammatory disease. My favorite is ‘ Neuroglial activation and Neuroinflammation in the Brain of Patients with Autism’. This was published by John Hopkins University. Now, do you want to debate whether mercury, a known neurotoxin, added to childhood vaccines at levels 250 times higher than what the EPA identifies as hazardous waste, causes neuroinflammatory disease? Do you want to debate whether brain damaged kids behave in a way so that some psychiatrist can label them as somewhere on the ’spectrum’?
All parents want is one study to see what injecting large quantities of one of the most toxic forms of mercury directly into a newborn’s blood does to the kid’s brain.
Eric and Alison and Paul can huff and puff all they want. They cannot blow this house down! ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish’.
Maggy~ you’d still need to know why the majority who had vaccines did not have that same brain inflammatory you speak of. You’d also then need to know since Thimerosal is no longer in vaccines, why autism is still being highly diagnosed. I think the alibi just isn’t there. It isn’t really needed.
If vaccines do such wonderful things and are not causing harm and even deaths then why do we need the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? Why does this Federal Court even exist? Why do they find that vaccines can cause harm and even death? They have even said vaccines in some pre-disposed individuals have developed autism.
I’m glad to hear that so many of you are willing to place your loved ones health on the line for the sake of “herd immunity”. I’m not! When you look carfeully at the vaccine pamphlet inserts and read the known side effects it is very scary. The lack of studies done on vaccines and the very fact that they say we are the long term study. I say that’s scary!
Sam, no one has ever said that vaccines are 100% guaranteed safe and never cause negative reactions.
That being said, vaccines are far more safe and have far fewer negative reactions than childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, et al.
As for your claim that there is a derth of research done on vaccines, you really need to do some basic research of your own as there have been countless studies done that pertain to vaccines … not just in America but around the world. The results are always the same with regards to Autism and vaccines, mercury and thimerosal.
Vaccines, mercury and thimerosal do not cause Autism.
Nowhere has there been a study that proves that individuals who are predisposed to Autism ‘develop’ it because of a vaccination. In fact, those who are predisposed to Autism are born Autistic and parents or caregivers only notice the difference at about the time when the MMR vaccine is given.
Correlation does not imply causation.
BTW, decades ago there was far more mercury in people’s lives. If one was to use the same logic that anti-vaccine militants use, then one could claim that we need more mercury in our lives as our grandparents did when there were fewer people diagnosed with Autism.
Honestly.
To Parents of Autism victims,
It’s a shame we have a political game to play at all. When it hits home we pay more attention. I say autism is caused by mercury poisoning. You can check the web at many sites to verify. It’s a child’s genetic ability to detoxify at the moment of “vaccination” whether they will be burdened with the symptoms of autism. The Ed Hanes Study, CDC, or Int’l Journal of Toxicology, 2003, Mercury/Autism sutdies will open eyes and sting. It’s a matter of record. Stop listening to main stream and do independent research, if you want to be saved and find the answers. Many things are declassified and open to the public. Stop being and sounding like the sheep you mimic. These arguments perpetuate your anguish and allude you from the truth. Most of the ‘facts’ are smoke screens to confuse. Healing is available.
Left-field, to which “healing” are you referring? Just in case it is something I havent tried, can you fill me in please. I will do anything I can to alleviate some of the behaviours that are harming my daughter.
Healing of autism can come from the removal of its cause. Remove the mercury (through proper chelation) and the healing can begin. The human brain/body is remarkable, but the sooner the better. I am being poisoned by my mercury fillings in my teeth. I can only afford to have them correctly removed a little at a time. 3 to go. Mercury is leaching into my system always. It will be years before I can remove the mercury from my body. I am fortunate enough to be one of those who are genetically predisposed to detoxify from the mercury…it doesn’t mean I am not being damaged from it. Liver, kidneys, etc. Think of a pregnant woman in my shoes. She would innocently and most likely unknowingly be poisoning her fetus. The numbers are about 1 in 6 who do not have the ability to detoxify when subjected to mercury. The facts are out there and the arguments are a smokescreen as are so many other main stream arguments in life, in general. People can easily become weary, complacent. Visit http://www.drbuttar.com
There has always been known side effects of vaccines aside from the autism theory, that’s why there’s the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. No vaccine or medication can or will be safe for everyone. If some pre-disposed individuals have developed autism due to vaccines, no one has yet shown why and how that is.
Not all autism could be caused by the mercury once in vaccines, since we know many never had vaccines. We also know there is no proof about dental fillings too. That scare more was developed so people would get the more spendy white fillings.
Mercury is found naturally in the body, and a person will normally have a certain amount within them.
Finally, another persons ‘truth’ may not reflect another’s, nor would their opinion. Where one may consider this ‘herd’ thinking, other’s may consider certain things only a means to gain funds from a parent seeking a cure. Not every child would need chelation nor would many parents accept giving chelation agents to their children. Left field themselves used the word ‘genetic’ while referencing ability to detoxify at the moment of “vaccination”. The key word there is genetic and genetics generally don’t only effect one at a ‘moment’. Genetics pretty much is life long.
http://www.evidenceofharm.com/introduction.htm
David Kirby and Evidence Of Harm isn’t exactly researching on your own or independant research. He’s really out to make profits on selling that book.
Dr. Buttar has been disciplined by his state medical board, and told not to treat children anymore. Buttar also used to treat allegies with urine injections.
Dr. Rashid Buttar ripped off many cancer patients, telling them the treatment was 100 percent effective and he knew this was not true not but charged an anormous fee. Those patients died, and the good doctor sent the unpaid bill to collection against the surviving spouses. So much for 100 percent effective.
The fact are out there, and any one who sways away from main stream medicine may be forking out funds for promises that cant possibly be real or medically true.
Dadvocate says: This initiative, coming from a diverse group of experts who sit on the Committee, all mainstream scientists and researchers with M.D.s and Ph.D.s represents progress to me. Pressure from AoA or Katie Wright or GR? Please. If you think that’s the case, then answer why now and not years ago.
Why now? When NAAR entered into the merger with Autism Speaks in 2006, there was a three year “NAAR integration period” stipulated in the bylaws in which the members of the Autism Speaks board from NAAR (originally there were four) could not be removed until May 2009 unless they voluntarily resigned; and if they resigned, the remaining NAAR members would have input into the replacements. These terms were attached to one of the organizations’ published financial statements online, either 2005 or 2006. Similar stipulations exist for the CAN-AS merger, but CAN principals were smarter and protected themselves better.
Long story short, if London didn’t resign, he would have been asked to. The tension started when Katie Wright spoke her mind on the Imus show not long after the merger. Go read the Mother Warriors chapter on Katie Wright, it alludes to merger terms rather clearly as the reason why Eric London and “NAAR people” sat on the board of AS at all.
Some of us saw this coming for quite awhile, but when the announcement that ASF had formed, I knew the fat lady was getting ready to sing.
The parents’ concerns about vaccine safety is not the problem. As Jim Carrey says, “The PROBLEM is the problem.”
Vaccines ARE a biologically plausible environmental trigger for ASD. There is no question about that.
The question is whether the studies to date have sufficiently disproved a vaccine-ASD link, and the answer is NO. You’ll never satisfy the crackpots on the fringe; but NORMAL LOGICAL parents and doctors still have VALID CONCERNS about vaccines vis-a-vis Autism.
The ONLY way to take vaccines out of play is to do proper vaccinated/unvaccinated cohort research. That simply has not been done.
Moreover, the argument that research on vaccines (and other environmental triggers) is draining precious research dollars from “more promising” research (e.g., genetics) is
fallacious.
Environmental factor research (e.g., vaccines, diet, folic acid, pitosin, pesticides, etc.) costs a TINY FRACTION of what genetic research costs. Genetic research has been a HUGE DEAD END so far, despite studies nearly as large as the Human Genome Project itself!
Let’s be honest — genetic research is “sexy”, whereas environmental factor research is “blue-collar” research. This is about researchers’ egos, not about our kids.
If and when they find a genetic association, there is still going to be an ENVIRONMENTAL TRIGGER.
To say that vaccine research (or any environmental factor research) is draining funds from precious genetic research is to have the TAIL wagging the DOG!
We should be looking at ALL plausible environmental factors: Folic Acid and Pitosin, as well as vaccines.
Sandy, Bill, Truth to Power, FreeSpeaker, JohnPrescott:
I respect what you each have to say, but I hope this isn’t being set up as the usual strawman argument of “pro-” vs. “anti-” vaccine. NOBODY is anti-vaccine. Almost nobody.
You should make sure that you remain OPEN MINDED. Not all vaccines are created equal. Each one has its own risks and benefits. Aside from Autism, kids literally die or are brian- or organ-damaged every year from vaccines. They are not a “free lunch” — they are not without inherent risks.
Hep-B and Rotavirus vaccines are very susceptible to criticism that they are unnecessary and risks > benefits. On the other hand, maybe Polio, Rubella, and others are more clearly beneficial.
As for the role of vaccines in autism, the jury is very much OUT. The research in the area of environmental factors, including vaccines, is essential. It is not a waste of time or money.
Please tell me exactly what we have gained from the many years and HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars spent on GENETIC research? Can you HONESTLY say that gene research is “more promising” than research on environmental factors?
The vast majority of us with “vaccine concerns” just want the necessary vaccines, and spread them out. That’s not a crazy idea. It’s not an “anti-vaccine” position. Our viewpoint should not be mocked and distorted to try to protect thus-far fruitless genetic research, which costs many orders of magnitude more money.
The people who are “crazy” are the ones who want to give our kids a Hep-B shot at birth.
Hippocratic Oath says, “First, do no harm.”
Those of us who saw with our own two eyes what happened to our kids immediately after vaccinations — we have VALID RATIONAL concerns, which have NOT yet been resolved scientifically.
I appreciate that everyone is keeping a civil tone, and I hope nothing I said comes across as shrill. I respect everyone’s viewpoint. I just have to speak up to defend those of us parents who have HONEST RATIONAL concerns about the role of vaccines.
Environmental factor research is relatively cheap. Genetic research is very expensive. Let’s do both.
It’s like manned- and unmanned spaceflight. The manned missions to the Moon (like gene research) were great. But the cheaper unmanned missions to Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the outer planets (like environmental/vaccine research) were of at least equal scientific value.
Why are people sooooo insistent that we ONLY do GENE RESEARCH? I don’t understand the argument. It’s as if our entire space program consisted of manned missions to the Moon.
Dadvocate — brilliantly said!
Maggie — that was well-said too.
Actually, if it is found to be genetic, there is no knowing if there’d be a trigger at all or just a certain age of onset. it’s awfully hard to detect autism in an infant who generally only cried and fills a diaper. An infant has to grow and hit stages and milestones at a certain age, and that’s when autism is detected. it could be a misfire of growth. It could be many things as well as autism always being present, just undetected. Just as vaccines are not created equal, neither are people and each will have their own sets of biological risks that others would not. Vaccines still do not account for environmental triggers when more boys than girls have autism. My open mind suggests due to that, the biology of males have a genetic risk factor higher than females.
I’m all for one good study that will settle this once and for all, however I still think there will never be that agreeable, acceptable study. What a study should show is the genetic predisposition some children may have prior to vaccines but since every human body is not equal, I’d imagine science would have a difficult time with this. Science has already located genes associated with autism, that gene(s) may contribute to a vulnerable other things or in general how the body processes things. My open mind thinks it could very well be vaccines, only it’s genetic-based why they cant process the vaccines as millions of others do.
I’m working on a research project on “vaccine-caused autism” as an urban legend. I’m convinced that it does have all the characteristics of folklore and superstition, but none in fact. A couple things on thimerosal: The level of mercury in vaccines is nowhere near what is known to cause poisoning (not to mention the ethyl v. methyl question). I believe that it might trigger mercury poisoning, but only in someone who already has already accumulated a much larger amount in tissue. Chelation is not something that would work if the theory were true. As a rule, removing a toxin doesn’t undo prior damage, and nothing at all can be done for injured brain tissue. Expecting any benefit from chelation beyond preventing further damage is magical thinking.
Any one who knows about heavy metal poisoning knows chelation or not, damage most often is not reversible. You can remove the metal from the body, but you can not repair that damage. For instance lead, you can remove it from the body but that damage is life long.
Let’s stop talking about vaccine. Let’s talk about the genetic defects: the real cause of autism. Most are still unknown but every day of our life we should look to unlock the regulatory mechanisms of the brain maturation. Autism occurs in some families of girls with Rett syndrome. More then 5 genetic loci have been found for Rett syndrome. autism most likely is caused by genes that activate other genes necessary for a normal language development.
Only 2 vaccines have evr been studied to see if they are related to Autism . Thimerosal is the only ingredient they have looked at . With the MMR vaccine containing 36 ingredients including Aluminum , Phenol , and Formaldehyde , we have to ask where are the studies ? Obviously the vaccine manufacturers don’t want theri product under scrutiny .