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- Feed Preview autism | Science-Based Medicine
“New school” antivax goes old school as Byram Bridle asks if COVID-19 vaccines will drive an “epidemic” of autism
Wakefield redux? Antivax scientist Byram Bridle just took the "new school" antivax movement old school by implying that COVID-19 vaccines might cause an "epidemic of autism." Everything old is ne...
Autism prevalence increases to 1 in 38, and antivaxxers blame vaccines without using the word “vaccine”
The CDC updated its estimates for the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders. Predictably, antivaxxers blame the increasing prevalence of ASDs reported, particularly in Black children, on "envir...
Ivermectin is now fast becoming the new MMS
A recent VICE story described a Telegram channel devoted to promoting veterinary ivermectin to treat autism. It has echoes of autism quackery going back at least to the use of MMS (a kind of blea...
What the New York Times gets wrong about puberty blockers for transgender youth
The New York Times recently published an article expressing grave concern about the use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents. Unfortunately, the reporting igno...
Peer review fail: Vaccine publishes antivax propaganda disg...” of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial data
In order portray COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, Peter Doshi has now managed to get poorly designed and performed "reanalyses" of the clinical trial data used by the FDA to grant emergency use ap...
Facilitated Communication Is Still Pseudoscience
Facilitated communication is a harmful pseudoscientific technique that has managed to survive through rebranding and deception. The post Facilitated Communication Is Still Pseudoscience first ap...
Fetal Signs of Autism
More evidence that ASD is a developmental disorder that begins in the womb. The post Fetal Signs of Autism first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Videos Said to be “Proof” that Nonverbal Autistics Can Communicate by Spelling
The father of nonverbal autistic child believes videos constitute proof that other children with autism can communicate by by pointing to letters on a board held by a facilitator to spell out wor...
Court overturns FDA ban on electric shock device used on special needs students
An FDA ban on using electric shock devices to control behavior in special needs students, a method deemed "torture" in a U.N. report, was overturned in a flawed court decision. The FDA should app...
Epidural Labor Analgesia Not Linked to Autism Says New and Improved Study
A new and improved study investigating a potential link between epidural analgesia during labor and autism found no connection. That's great news for mothers and babies. The post Epidural Labor A...
The latest antivax false claim: mRNA vaccines against COVID...e not vaccines but “medical devices” or “gene therapy”
There's a new antivaccine talking point in town, and it's just as much disinformation as other antivaccine talking points. It's the claim that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are not really vaccines but "...
Dubious stem cell trials for autism and the darker side of quackademic medicine
Despite a lack of evidence, Duke University is all-in on stem cells for autism, thanks to a billionaire benefactor and a highly dodgy for-profit Panama stem cell clinic. How did this come to be a...
Plandemic: Judy Mikovits and the mother of all COVID-19 conspiracy theories
Judy Mikovits is a disgraced scientist who published a paper claiming that a retrovirus called XMRV causes chronic fatigue syndrome, results that other investigators were unable to replicate. Sin...
Quoth RFK Jr.: Vaccines and glyphosate are responsible for the obesity epidemic!
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. published an article claiming that vaccines and glyphosate are responsible for the obesity epidemic. Too bad he cited the work of two longtime antivaccine cranks to support...
For-profit stem cell clinics, universities, and “pay-to-play” clinical trials for autism
Stem cell therapies show great promise, but as yet the vast majority of that promise has not been validated in rigorous clinical trials. Unfortunately, for-profit stem cell clinics are running cl...
A new study reinforces the conclusion that autism is primarily genetic
Last week, the largest epidemiological study of its kind was published and concluded, once again, that autism is primarily due to genes and that the environmental component of autism risk is much...
Processed Foods and Autism
Reports of a "link" between processed food and autism highly misrepresent the actual findings of an in-vitro study. The post Processed Foods and Autism first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Bleaching away what ails you: The Genesis II Church is still selling Miracle Mineral Supplement as a cure-all
Miracle Mineral Supplement (MMS) has been sold by the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing as a cure-all to treat conditions and diseases as diverse as autism, cancer, diabetes, multiple scler...
Statistical Significance and Toxicity
Researchers propose to get rid of the use statistical significance in science reporting. The idea has merit. The post Statistical Significance and Toxicity first appeared on Science-Based Medici...
Antivaccine pseudoscience disguised as autism advocacy in the Minnesota legislature
Recently, Sen. Jim Abeler of Minnesota created the MN Autism Council, an advisory panel tasked with advising the legislature on autism policy. A closer look at the story reveals that Sen. Abeler ...
Autism Revisited
Is there an autism epidemic? Why was autism rare in the past? This book tries to answer those questions with a historical and sociological approach and suggests deinstitutionalization was a key f...
Addressing the epidemic of antivaccine misinformation
Last week, Dr. Gorski was on vacation. However, part of his vacation involved spending a couple of hours with two of his heroes, meeting new pro-science advocates, and talking vaccine hesitancy a...
More About Flu Vaccine
More evidence that flu shots work, that they are safe during pregnancy, and that they don't cause autism. The post More About Flu Vaccine first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Chelation Therapy for Autism is Quackery
Chelation therapy for autism is not based on any scientific rationale and what evidence we have shows it does not work, yet it continues to be offered as an "alternative" treatment. The post Chel...
Vaccines Still Don’t Cause Autism
Update: The evidence continues to show no link between vaccines and autism. The post Vaccines Still Don’t Cause Autism first appeared on Science-Based Medicine .
Do Sunscreens Cause Cancer?
Elizabeth Plourde thinks sunscreens cause cancer rather than preventing it. She blames sunscreens for everything from coral reef die-offs to autism. Neither her evidence nor her reasoning stand u...
CEASE therapy for autism: Homeopathic quackery and “self regulation” by naturopathic boards
Naturopathy is quackery. If you doubt this, consider that you can't have naturopathy without homeopathy. What's even worse is when naturopaths subject autistic children to quackery like CEASE the...
Reflex Integration Therapy
Various methods of reflex integration claim benefits for autism, ADHD, brain injuries, pain, and more. They are based on speculative ideas about retained primitive reflexes. They have not been sc...
Autism prevalence increases to 1 in 59, and antivaxers lose it…yet again
Autism Awareness Month isn't as full of news stories about autism with false balance between science and antivaccine pseudoscience advocates as it was in years past. Every few years, though, when...
“Dr. Amy” Yasko’s Autism Protocol: Unproven, Complicated and Expensive
"Dr. Amy" Yasko isn't a real doctor and her autism protocol is unproven, complicated, and expensive. Her claims of success are contradicted by autism, nutrition, and genetics experts. The post �...