Vaccine Autism War Is Declared Over: Autism Is 100% Genetic, Vaccine Concerned Parents Are Fanatics

Dr. Henry Miller, physician and molecular biologist, a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, have ended the vaccine autism wars. 

Without providing any fancy explanations, or any  substantial explanation at all, these learned figures have declared in Unlocking the Genetic Secrets of Autism  that autism is 100% genetic and parents who resist this knowledge are fanatics particularly those who believe vaccines may play a role in causing vaccines. There ain't much science or logic in the declaration to confuse fanatic parents. The war is over. Autism is genetic. Let the parades begin:

Intense and even fanatical resistance to vaccination against childhood diseases is itself a significant public health problem. Opponents have blamed vaccines for everything from allergies and diabetes to cancer and autism. A recent study of abnormalities in the DNA of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) should finally put to rest the claims of some activists, mainly parents of affected children, that vaccines cause these conditions.

Autism Insanity: The It's Gotta Be Genetic Model of Autism

"It's crazy that in this debate, we're still debating whether autism numbers are actually going up or not, which is insanity to me. It's people desperately clinging to this belief that autism is genetic, that it's always been with us at this rate, that we're just better at counting it, better at diagnosing it."

David Kirby, 'Evidence of Harm' revisited, Part 2, The Bloomington Alternative, January 10, 2010

Kirby has hit the nail on the head with this remark from his interview with Steven Higgs at the Bloomington Alternative. Teresa Binstock identified the "It's gotta be genetic" mindset of understanding autism and funding autism research over a decade ago and little has changed since then.  The failure to challenge an entrenched almost cult like belief that autism is genetic, it just has to be genetic, has cost another generation years of potentially productive autism research and possible treatments and cures. The same "autism is genetic" cult followers, having held back environmentally focused autism research,  then point to the absence of scientific study results identifying environmental factors in causing autism as proof that autism is genetic. Sounds like insanity to me.

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New Autism Studies Begin to Fill Out the Genetic Part of the Autism Equation

WebMD reports that three studies published online claim to have identified gene variants involved in about 15% of autism diagnoses. The research subjects were mostly children with autistic disorder diagnoses. Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD, director of genomics research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the lead author of two of three studies states that:

"the newly identified gene variants found to boost autism risk are involved in facilitating communication between brain cells -- making more credible the suggestions from other autism experts that autism or ASDs are due to abnormal connections between brain cells early in development."

Dr. Hakonarson also points out that having the genetic variant does not automatically mean that autism will result. Other genetic and environmental factors are also involved.

Dr. Thomas Insel of the NIH was interviewed by WebMD about the studies and also places the new genetic studies results in a genetic and environmental context:

"If you think about autism as a jigsaw puzzle with 500 pieces, each of these findings is an 'edge' piece. But many edge pieces are needed to make progress.

It would be a mistake for people to read this and think this is only about genetics. Almost everybody agrees that autism is a collection of different disorders. Some of them may be heavily genetic. But I think most experts would say the bulk of autism is the result of both genetic and environmental effects that are interacting in some way that we have yet to fully describe.

This begins to fill out the genetic part of the equation."

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