IMHO, "Evidence of Harm" is one of the *worst* examples of medical journalism I have ever read. The author
does indeed make dozens of huge errors in the science.
In addition, it's one of the most pernicious examples of the medical model in action I've ever read, with (some)
practitioners and parents who wholeheartedly accept a medical/personal tragedy model of autism painted as
shining heroes, "the establishment" as completely villainous, and people with autism as victims without agency
or opinions that count.
On the other hand, Spiked Online is a politically motivated site that I do not trust in the least. Its origins and
financial backing make for quite interesting reading. Have a look at http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?
PrId=124 (and many other places online) to find out more. They are part of that rather strange segment of the
neo-cons that come from Trotskyist roots, and are funded by the usual big business suspects to act as covert
PR shills.
I'm quite interested in medical aspects of autism, although I don't find the evidence for the mercury hypothesis
to be particularly compelling. Hair analysis, on which most of the individual claims are based, is abolute crap
science, for one thing. For me, having respect for the personhood of people with autism, on which all
approaches (medical and otherwise) to autism should be based, has to include concern for the health of people
with autism. Mercury poisoning is a serious danger to health. So is measles encephalopathy and viral intestinal
damage, as alleged in the MMR theory. Seems to me that should medical evidence for any of these things be
seen, appropriate medical care should be provided as it would be for anyone not labelled as autistic, and
prevention should be considered to protect others from potential harm. What shouldn't happen is unregulated,
forced application of unproven therapies that can themselves harm or kill. Some of the "chelation experts" out
there are frighteningly gung-ho, some are in fact charlatans of the highest order. In the case of two rather well-
known individuals in this field, I have quite serious doubts as to their sanity and fitness to practice medicine!
But as long as autism is defined as a horrible tragedy that makes those affected "less than human", as long as
the availability of services families and adults with autism need to cope is almost nil, people like this will
continue to prey on parents, and research into the very real health problems that some people on the spectrum
experience will be blocked.
Mitzi
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