The Huffington post should be ashamed of themselves for continuing to publish the deceptive BS of David Kirby, including today's Autism Speaks: will anyone listen?

While no one disputes that autism has a genetic underpinning, there is still a fierce debate over the potential role of environmental influences, particularly mercury, and very particularly, mercury in vaccines.

Many in the upper echelons of Autism Speaks have rejected any environmental hypothesis and insisted that autism is purely a genetic disorder -- though Bob and Suzanne Wright (and the organization itself) remain officially neutral on this crucial question.

But now, Christian is getting better, and that wonderful news could change everything.

Why? Because "genetic" disorders don't typically improve on their own. And little Christian, the child who inspired Autism Speaks, has started to speak again. Will Autism Speaks listen

What really kills me about this is that years, years, after thimerosal has been removed from vaccines (and was never shown epidemiologically to increase risk of autism) autism rates continue to rise. But like all denialists, Kirby won't let evidence change his mind. It's still thimerosal, even after that's been eliminated as a cause. And what's with thinking people can't get better on their own with genetic diseases? Does he have a citation for that ridiculous blanket statement? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Worse yet, he promotes the quacks at DAN, who push alternative and dangerous cures based on BS, such as chelation therapy.

Since then, Katie said, she and her husband took Christian to doctors belonging to a group called Defeat Autism Now, or DAN. "DAN Doctors" believe that mercury and other environmental factors are what triggered most cases of autism, and have developed a controversial protocol of "biomedical interventions" aimed at removing heavy metals from autistic children and trying to repair some of the metabolic damage they may have caused.

"He's definitely getting better," Katie told me by phone. "He was a very sick kid, with an extended gut and inflamed intestines. We couldn't do anything until we got that under control." But once Christian started to improve physically, she said, he also began to get better emotionally, mentally and cognitively.

When Christian's gut improved, his parents began trying other, still-unproven treatments like dietary changes (no wheat or dairy) chelation therapy (removal of heavy metals from the body) and methyl B-12, which could help restore a critical process called methylation - a needed tool for detoxification and proper nerve function that is apparently deficient in some autistic children.

B-12 magically restores "methylation"! Autism is from the gut - it's really just celiac disease! Quack remedies like Chelation work! What a load of shit. This guy doesn't understand toxicology, epigenetics, nutrition, nothing.

Kirby is promoting woo/altie-meds, false hope, dangerous and unproven treatments, irresponsible conspiracy theories, and creating fear of vaccines, but I guess that's wjust a routine day for a denialist. This stuff is essentially parentally-sanctioned human experimentation on children. If it weren't the parents doing this, it would be a violation of the Nuremberg code. It's still pretty sick if you think about it, how parents routinely and blithely experiment on their children with bizarre diets, altie-meds, and other forms of woo.

HuffPo should be ashamed. It's also ironic that at the same time they publish this piece from Mike Stark on global warming denialism. How about a little insight Arianna? Denialism isn't partisan, both sides have their BS. The left has environmental/toxin/altie paranoia, the right has corporate/religious/greed based shilling.

Labels: anti-Vax denialism, David Kirby