Review of 'Autism Yesterday,' a Video by JB Handley

Autism Yesterday is a beautifully produced documentary created to support the message that (1) vaccines cause autism; (2) government agencies and pharmaceutical companies know this and are covering the evidence; (3) autism can be cured through biomedical intervention. If you share these beliefs, you'll love the video. If you disagree with these beliefs, you'll hate it.

Autism Yesterday is a half-hour documentary produced by J.B. and Lisa Handley and Generation Rescue. The Handleys, for those who don't know them, are the parents of a child with autism and the founders of Generation Rescue, a nonprofit dedicated to the biomedical treatment and cure of children with autism.

Early on, the Handleys were "the" spokepeople for the biomedical movement. Today, Generation Rescue is described as "Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey's Autism Organization," and the website is covered with images of the stars. A photo of Jenny with a shopping bag carries the slogan "let's go shopping," and ads for various site sponsors cover the right-hand side of the front page.

In a sense, "Autism Yesterday" represents a return to the early, non-commercial days of autism activism. It's a beautifully-produced half-hour documentary featuring families facing autism and -- at least according to the film -- curing their children. The website for the film is absolutely simple: no jargon, no marketing message, no links, no images of big-eyed children.

The message of "Autism Yesterday" is that autism is caused by ingredients in vaccines and can be cured through a variety of biomedical interventions including but not limited to supplements, special diets, chelation (removal of heavy metals from the body), etc. The theory presented is that government agencies, conspiring with large pharmaceutical companies, know the dangers posed by vaccines but have chosen to bury their knowledge.

Interestingly, virtually all of the families presented in the film (and in most materials supporting biomedical treatment) are described as perfectly normal until they received their vaccines. According to the anecdotes, these children immediately became seriously ill with fever, stomach upset and bowel problems, none of which are a part of the definition of autism. Some studies suggest that children with autism are more likely to develop these problems -- but many studies suggest they are not. Are children with autism more prone to GI problems? No one knows for sure though there are some theories under investigation.

The medical mainstream is adamant that there is no connection between vaccines and a huge rise in autism diagnoses -- while the biomedical community is equally adamant that there's a conspiracy to harm our children. What that means is that while some will see the Handley's, their video and their support of the biomedical movement as a boondoggle -- and potentially harmful to children and their parents -- others will see them as crusaders, speaking truth to power.