Autism Street

Another autism biomed seminar is coming to Phoenix in case you missed the last one. Wow this is a recognizable list - which one is the board-certified developmental pediatrician?

The Greater Phoenix Chapter
of the Autism Society of America
Presents
Biomedical Testing and
Treatment for Autism
June 23-24, 2006
ASU West Campus

Speakers:
Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless
author of Children with Starving Brains
Jon Pangborn, Ph.D.
Co-founder of DAN!
David Kirby
author of Evidence of Harm, leading journalist on
autism.mercury controversy
Lisa Lewis
author of Special Diets for Special Kids
Walter Crinnion
Chelation Experts
Dr. Cindy Schneider
leading Arizona DAN! Physician
Ari Vodjani
expert on immune problems in autism
Tapan Audhya
Vitamin Diagnostics
Jim Adams and Matt Baral
update on DMSA treatment study
Jim Adams
update on ASU Vitamin/Mineral Study

An Open Letter to Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University 

Dear Dr. Crow,

I writing to you to express concern about ASU’s involvement with the autism community in the Phoenix area. In reading the ASU homepage, I find your rotating quotes about the future direction of ASU inspiring, especially as they relate to the importance of science and the public good.

This one, among many, caught my attention:
“We’re building a new kind of university, one whose fate is tied to our collective fate, and one committed to the collective good.”

This is great, but I question that true commitment, and currently see it as more PR soundbyte material rather than action leading to reality.

It’s no secret that there is an ASU professor heavily involved in the autism community here. In the past, he’s conducted studies through ASU, but was more recently required to take his work off-campus. I applaud ASU’s IRB apparent commitment to responsibility for the protection of human research subjects, in not allowing this so-called research to take place at ASU. Besides relatively absent ethics in the form of scientific merit, it’s extremely unlikely that the particular research will find its way to a real peer-reviewed scientific or medical journal anyway. The previous so-called research that led up to it, and will likely be cited by it, was published in a dubious journal. I suspect the current study will go the same route.

This professor took the time to discuss (via e-mail) his research with me, which was shared with a large area parent support group. I recognize that you may not have the time, but you may find a read-through of our discussion quite enlightening. Never mind the extremely flawed science and appeals to popularity by this professor in our discussion, I was perhaps the most dismayed by the factual misinformation being communicated to area parents.

As an example, when pressed about the reason for having associated labwork being sent to a dubious mail-order laboratory, this professor’s response was something to the effect of, “They have more sensitive equipment than most local area labs”. You can read more about this in the following article on my blog.

I can certainly understand this professor’s desire to conduct research about autism, in addition to being a fellow parent of a child with autism, he’s the president of the Greater Phoenix Chapter of the Autism Society of America. But here’s where I question ASU’s judgement. Yet another ‘autism biomed’ seminar is coming to Phoenix. From all looks of it, this has likely been arranged by this ASU professor, and that’s great.

Does it have to be at an ASU campus? There’s likely very little to no real established science involved. It would be one thing if it were an academic discussion designed to foster collaboration, but I seriously doubt that. It looks to be yet another so-called “informational” session for parents. I use the term “informational” lightly because it’s quite likely to contain a majority of unproven assertions and maybe even misinformation. It really looks a lot more like promotion for the various authors, medical practioners, and journalists - promotion of their books, services, and pet theories.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for diversity in educational content. ASU is in a position to contribute to the ‘local community’ portion of the collective good by lending its reputation, allowing use of facilities, and attracting speakers from all over, but does that mean that scientific baloney should be welcome too? Does ASU really want to be involved with promoting chelation as a treatment for autism (part of the upcoming seminar) in any way?

I’m of the mindset that if it’s not based on real proven science, if it’s associated with quackery or misinformation, or if it’s not committed to the collective good, it doesn’t belong at a local university unless it’s being disproven, or critically examined at the least. Why not ask this group to host this event somewhere else, somewhere where beliefs over real science or evidence-based medicine are espoused?

I think it possible that many area parents would unintentionally see the name ASU, simply attached as the location, as a source of credibility. It looks more the beginnings of a giant neon sign for credulity to me. Area parents might benefit from a more skeptical, and scientific view in general about such autism treatment seminars. Seeing that it’s not taking place at a local university committed to real science and the collective good, might help the non-scientific parent crowd see this for what it is.

The title of this seminar is “Biomedical Testing and Treatment For Autism”. I’m sure you are aware that the current number of scientifically proven “treatments” for autism is zero. I respectfully ask that you consider ASU’s role in this (however small you may think it to be).

Dad Of Cameron