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There is No Autism Epidemic
David Kirby.
It's been nearly two years since the release of my book, "Evidence of
Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic - A Medical Controversy,"
and I continue to be vilified by critics who insist that mercury does not
cause autism, that autism is a stable genetic condition, and that it cannot
be an "epidemic."
I am going to declare a New Year's truce, and announce that my critics are
100 percent correct.
This year, I hope we can ALL agree on one thing: There is no autism epidemic.
Among my most spirited and articulate detractors is a group of adults with
autism who belong to a movement that refers to itself as the
"neurodiversity" community.
These adults argue passionately that autism is neither a disease nor a
disorder, but rather a natural and special variation of the chance genetic
imprint left upon human behavior. Most of them, I believe, have what
science calls "Asperger's Syndrome," or very high functioning
autism.
From their eloquent and well reasoned point of view, autism has no
"cause," and it certainly requires no "cure." To suggest otherwise is to
brand these adults with the stigma of disease and disability, which is
patently absurd given their educational and intellectual achievements.
It's like saying that left-handers or gays are deviant and need treatment
- something that reasonable people stopped doing years ago.
So maybe autism really is just an odd genetic peculiarity that yields
atypical people whose own set of talents and gifts can lead to perfectly
happy and fulfilled lives, with little or no dependence on others for their
survival.
If that's the case, then autism has always been with us at some steady,
but largely overlooked rate. Growing awareness and better diagnostics have
certainly helped us identify and count more people with the condition, who
might have been mislabeled as "quirky" or "nerdy" a decade ago.
But if that's autism, then the kids that I have met suffer from some other
condition entirely. When I talk about "curing" autism, I am not talking
about curing the "neurodiverse."
I am talking about kids who begin talking and then, suddenly, never say
another word.
I'm talking about kids who may never learn to read, write, tie their shoes
or fall in love.
I'm talking about kids who sometimes wail in torture at three in the
morning because something inside them hurts like a burning coal, but they
can't say what or where it is.
I'm talking about kids who can barely keep food in their inflamed,
distressed guts, and when they do, it winds up in rivers of diarrhea or
swirls of feces spread on a favorite carpet or pet (no one said this kind
of "autism" was pretty).
I'm talking about kids who escape from their home in a blaze of alarms,
only to be found hours later, freezing, alone and wandering the Interstate.
I'm talking about kids who have bitten their mother so hard and so often,
they are on a first name basis at the emergency room.
I'm talking about kids who spin like fireworks until they fall and crack
their heads, kids who will play with a pencil but not with their sister,
kids who stare at nothing and scream at everything and don't even realize
it when their dad comes home from work.
These are the kids I want to see cured. And I don't believe they have
"autism."
Scientists tell us that 1-in-104 American boys are currently diagnosed
with some form of autism spectrum disorder. But the mildest, "high
functioning" forms of autism have seemingly little in common with the most
severe or even moderate cases.
My hunch (and yes, that is all it is) is that most of these kids do not
have "autism" at all, and it's probably time we started calling it
something else.
American kids are in huge trouble. One in six has a learning disability.
Asthma, diabetes, allergies and arthritis are ravaging their bodies in
growing numbers. And little of this is due to "better diagnostics" or
"greater awareness."
It can only be attributed to radical changes in our environment over the
last 10-20 years. There is something, or more likely some things in our
modern air, water, food and drugs that are making genetically susceptible
children sick, and we need to find out what they are.
Mercury remains a logical candidate for contributing to "autism spectrum
disorders," either alone or in combination with other environmental
insults. Mercury exposure can kill brain cells. It can cause loss of speech
and eye contact, digestive and immune dysfunction,
social withdrawal and anxiety, and repetitive and self-injurious behaviors.
So maybe we should leave the autistics in peace and focus on these
environmentally toxic kids and what it is that ails them.
Maybe what these kids have is not autism, but something like, say,
"Environmentally-acquired Neuroimmune Disorder," which we could call E.N.D.
(Great slogan: "Let's End E.N.D.).
Maybe that would explain why a recent CDC-funded study of the San
Francisco Bay Area showed that kids with "autism" were 50% more likely to
be born in neighborhoods with high levels of airborne toxins, especially
mercury. If a second study underway in Baltimore yields
similar data, it will be that much harder to defend the "better diagnosis"
argument, (other studies have shown an association between autism rates and
proximity to coal-fired power plants).
So maybe what we have here is just a semantic failure to communicate.
Columbus thought he had met "Indians," and we only recently began to use
the term "Native American."
Columbus was not in the Indies, mercury doesn't cause autism, and there is
no autism epidemic
David Kirby.
It's been nearly two years since the release of my book, "Evidence of
Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic - A Medical Controversy,"
and I continue to be vilified by critics who insist that mercury does not
cause autism, that autism is a stable genetic condition, and that it cannot
be an "epidemic."
I am going to declare a New Year's truce, and announce that my critics are
100 percent correct.
This year, I hope we can ALL agree on one thing: There is no autism epidemic.
Among my most spirited and articulate detractors is a group of adults with
autism who belong to a movement that refers to itself as the
"neurodiversity" community.
These adults argue passionately that autism is neither a disease nor a
disorder, but rather a natural and special variation of the chance genetic
imprint left upon human behavior. Most of them, I believe, have what
science calls "Asperger's Syndrome," or very high functioning
autism.
From their eloquent and well reasoned point of view, autism has no
"cause," and it certainly requires no "cure." To suggest otherwise is to
brand these adults with the stigma of disease and disability, which is
patently absurd given their educational and intellectual achievements.
It's like saying that left-handers or gays are deviant and need treatment
- something that reasonable people stopped doing years ago.
So maybe autism really is just an odd genetic peculiarity that yields
atypical people whose own set of talents and gifts can lead to perfectly
happy and fulfilled lives, with little or no dependence on others for their
survival.
If that's the case, then autism has always been with us at some steady,
but largely overlooked rate. Growing awareness and better diagnostics have
certainly helped us identify and count more people with the condition, who
might have been mislabeled as "quirky" or "nerdy" a decade ago.
But if that's autism, then the kids that I have met suffer from some other
condition entirely. When I talk about "curing" autism, I am not talking
about curing the "neurodiverse."
I am talking about kids who begin talking and then, suddenly, never say
another word.
I'm talking about kids who may never learn to read, write, tie their shoes
or fall in love.
I'm talking about kids who sometimes wail in torture at three in the
morning because something inside them hurts like a burning coal, but they
can't say what or where it is.
I'm talking about kids who can barely keep food in their inflamed,
distressed guts, and when they do, it winds up in rivers of diarrhea or
swirls of feces spread on a favorite carpet or pet (no one said this kind
of "autism" was pretty).
I'm talking about kids who escape from their home in a blaze of alarms,
only to be found hours later, freezing, alone and wandering the Interstate.
I'm talking about kids who have bitten their mother so hard and so often,
they are on a first name basis at the emergency room.
I'm talking about kids who spin like fireworks until they fall and crack
their heads, kids who will play with a pencil but not with their sister,
kids who stare at nothing and scream at everything and don't even realize
it when their dad comes home from work.
These are the kids I want to see cured. And I don't believe they have
"autism."
Scientists tell us that 1-in-104 American boys are currently diagnosed
with some form of autism spectrum disorder. But the mildest, "high
functioning" forms of autism have seemingly little in common with the most
severe or even moderate cases.
My hunch (and yes, that is all it is) is that most of these kids do not
have "autism" at all, and it's probably time we started calling it
something else.
American kids are in huge trouble. One in six has a learning disability.
Asthma, diabetes, allergies and arthritis are ravaging their bodies in
growing numbers. And little of this is due to "better diagnostics" or
"greater awareness."
It can only be attributed to radical changes in our environment over the
last 10-20 years. There is something, or more likely some things in our
modern air, water, food and drugs that are making genetically susceptible
children sick, and we need to find out what they are.
Mercury remains a logical candidate for contributing to "autism spectrum
disorders," either alone or in combination with other environmental
insults. Mercury exposure can kill brain cells. It can cause loss of speech
and eye contact, digestive and immune dysfunction,
social withdrawal and anxiety, and repetitive and self-injurious behaviors.
So maybe we should leave the autistics in peace and focus on these
environmentally toxic kids and what it is that ails them.
Maybe what these kids have is not autism, but something like, say,
"Environmentally-acquired Neuroimmune Disorder," which we could call E.N.D.
(Great slogan: "Let's End E.N.D.).
Maybe that would explain why a recent CDC-funded study of the San
Francisco Bay Area showed that kids with "autism" were 50% more likely to
be born in neighborhoods with high levels of airborne toxins, especially
mercury. If a second study underway in Baltimore yields
similar data, it will be that much harder to defend the "better diagnosis"
argument, (other studies have shown an association between autism rates and
proximity to coal-fired power plants).
So maybe what we have here is just a semantic failure to communicate.
Columbus thought he had met "Indians," and we only recently began to use
the term "Native American."
Columbus was not in the Indies, mercury doesn't cause autism, and there is
no autism epidemic
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