Bartholomew Cubbins on Autism

Click to Play A recent paper caught my eye since it claimed that the use of the chelation agent, DMSA/Succimer, may contribute to cognitive deficits if used in the absence of lead contamination of an animal model. This is a good paper, but I'm just not entirely convinced the the data. Dunno, maybe it's just me. The bottom line is that if one is convinced by their data that succimer treatment can alleviate lead-induced cognitive deficits, then I believe that one has to be convinced by their data that succimer treatment in the absence of lead contamination induces cognitive defects itself - that's a huge and scary statement. Check it out. Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)Tags: dmps, chelation, autism, experiment, science, succimer

Click to Play A quick look at a paper which allows me to launch into my favorite criticisms of microarray data. In short, most people doing Affy arrays don't have any idea what they're doing. Good for Affy. Bad for science. Bad for the public. These guys even try to pull in autism into their analysis. Blech. Running time ~7min Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)Tags: science, autism, rna, microarray, blood

Click To Play Click here for QuickTime version Wow. Brian Deer really shows us just how much money someone can make in generating panic over nonsense. One guy in particular is reported to have pulled in almost a million US dollars. I'm in the wrong business.

Click To Play There has been a number of people touting this paper yet only a few have really read it. Here's the paper in pictures. In short, only about half of the real experiment was done. I can't speculate why the authors stopped short, but I can say that their decision renders this paper almost worthless. Running time ~ 10 min Click here to get the QuickTime version

Click To Play David Kirby tries to reduce the impact of the fact that the California autism rates aren't going down in accordance with a severely reduced exposure to Thimerosal by claiming that California is different because California is getting poisoned by mercury from China. What a load. Running time ~ 10 minutes. Click here for the QuickTime version (pops)

Autism Speaks is trying to be the voice in the autism community but I want to focus on two of its members: Kevin Barry and Dr. Andrew Shih. Kevin Barry is a consultant and a lawyer who is a mercury enthusiast whereas Dr. Shih seems to be a straight-up scientist. Guess which one has a real problem with Roy Grinker's latest book that challenges the notion that there's an autism epidemic? I'll give you a hint: the other one bodyslams Montel Williams on his own pathetic show. Running time is ~ 7 minutes. Enjoy. Click To Play It appears that Kevin Barry of Autism Speaks is having some fun with rallying the troops to disparage Roy Grinker's new book. What a loser. Dr. Grinker really stepped into a pit of vipers. The silent majority is behind you, Dr. Grinker. Click here for the QuickTime version.

Click To Play Here is the verbal version of my notes on several talks at an autism conference last December. It's more of an audio thing to be honest.

Click To Play Part 2: Rett syndrome and an overview by Mehlmer Again, more of an audio thing. Running time ~8 minutes

Click to Play Just a quick accompaniment to a great article at Autism Street delivering some punishing blows to those who are pushing EDTA chelation therapy for autism despite the amazing health risks involved, risks that have been known and admonished by the government for over 30 years.Formats available: Quicktime (.mov) Running time = 10 minutes My previous stuff on chelation: Chelation part 1 (mov) same but small 3GP format Chelation part 2 (mov) same small 3GP format

Click icon for flash version. click here for Quicktime version (pops) Why do some people find measles virus RNA anywhere they look and then link the MMR to autism?? Hmmmm... A look at how bad PCR can fuel an MMR conspiracy theory. running time ~10 min