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Autism is Caused by Environmental Factors -- Maybe
Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals: Babies, Research Reveals: Toddlers & Preschoolers, Research Reveals: Big Kids
After a study of twins in the 1970s, Autism became regarded as a genetic disorder. Credit: Mario Tama, Getty Images
Food allergies, once discredited as a cause of autism, are making a comeback. So is exposure to chemicals, bacterial infections and other environmental factors.
"Genetics don't explain it," researcher Neil Risch, a genetic epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, tells the Los Angeles Times. "They're part of the story, but only part of the story."
Other research has largely ruled out environmental factors, but Risch and his colleagues still think they may be responsible for autism.
"I think they're really on shaky ground to say that," Paul Law, the director of the Interactive Autism Network at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, tells the Los Angeles Times.
"It's a massive claim," echoes Angelica Ronald, a behavior geneticist at Birkbeck University of London. "It flies in the face of the previous data," she tells the Times. "I don't see why the results have come out the way they have."
Risch and his team resurrected environmental causes after studying 192 pairs of identical and fraternal twins with at least one of the twins having autism. The researchers admit their calculations provide a wide margin for error. Still, they insist environmental factors deserve a fresh look.
So what really causes autism? Pick a card, any card.
The Times reports the condition used to be blamed on detached, unemotional "refrigerator mothers." After a study of twins in the 1970s, it became regarded as a genetic disorder. When the number of autism diagnoses began exploding in the '90s, it was blamed on everything from childhood vaccines to over-reactive doctors and parents.
Scientists have all but given up on finding a smoking gun that can explain large numbers of autism cases, the Times reports. Instead, they are looking for multiple risk factors that each have small effects. But the smaller the risk, the paper reports, the more difficult it is to find.
Autism researcher Lisa Croen, an epidemiologist who heads Kaiser's Autism Research Program in Oakland, tells the Times one thing is certain: "We can't determine causation from one study."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
7-05-2011 @ 5:29PM
Robert Finney PhD said...Kaiser Permanente’s Autism Scam
Kaiser Permanente has a pattern and practice of failing to provide timely access to diagnosis, assessment, care, and treatment for autism. Rather than providing the care required under its contract and by statute, Kaiser refers patients to Regional Centers, which are funded by taxpayer dollars. Desperate patients are forced to sue the HMO.
Instead of treating autism, Kaiser is wasting money to fund an army of research bureaucrats, who do not provide medical care. They examined medical records, with the assistance of costly, specially written computer programs. Electronic medical records systems (EHR) are also bankrolled by taxpayers.
Kaiser has the ability to tamper with Autism victims’ electronic medical records, so that providers cannot be held accountable for wrongful denial of care. Kaiser intentionally failed to design its electronic medical records system to require providers to automatically record any change or deletion of electronically stored medical information, identify who made the change, and make it possible for patients to see the changes.
Kaiser Permanente’s sob story, given by Teresa Stark, insults plain folks patients:
"Our system… can't do that, and we're not aware of any system that can …Given the level of investment required to bring our EHR up to that level, is this really what we want to be spending our money on?"
First, Kaiser must recognize that what they refer to as “our money” is the taxpayers’ money, not Kaiser’s money. Next, Kaiser must recognize that taxpayers pay for medical care, not bureaucrats. Finally, Kaiser must recognize that taxpayers are entitled to know who has accessed and edited their electronic medical records.
Kaiser is sitting on a non-taxable $40 billion slush fund that is invested by Kaiser’s Managing Director of Investments. The income can fund all medically necessary care, including autism, and to program electronic medical records’ tampering edit controls. You can bet that Kaiser knows when all employees edit billing and investment records.
Documented investigations are posted on hmohardball.com
Robert Finney PhD
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