Kim Rossi

Back to the Future? Autism Research.

Please pop over to HuffPo to read my latest piece, "Conducting Autism Research like it's 1994" about the Autism Science Foundation formed by the Londons of NAAR, Alison Singer and Paul Offit. I sure would like 4500 comments, like Jim Carrey*! (Wake up, Kim!) Click HERE.

In 1994, the National Alliance for Autism Research was born. They were dedicated to genetics research for autism. Three years ago, they were absorbed into Autism Speaks. Now, fifteen years after their inception, millions of dollars spent and tens of thousands of children diagnosed with autism later, they appear to have extricated themselves from Autism Speaks and returned to the stage as the Autism Science Foundation.

Their mission? To boldly go back to exactly what they were doing before doctors and researchers and even some uppity folks at Autism Speaks started asking pesky questions about vaccines. (I've heard they have IBM Selectric typewriters on every desk and will serve Jello 1-2-3 in the caf!)

* Jim Carrey wrote a post questioning the mantra that autism and vaccines are not related and drew over 4500 comments. (HERE) Scroll through some of the comments to see the bitterness of the debate. There is great discrimination against autism parents who watched their kids disappear following vaccination. I think it's fear. No parent wants to believe vaxes could harm. And few want to make the tough choices on how/if to modify the schedule for son or daughter.

I'll leave you with this. The Catholic Church sex scandals raged on for decades because no one dared to believe such horror could be true. Trust, Faith, Respect got in the way of listening to the children. Why is it so hard to believe that vaccines don't also engender trust, faith and respect and that maybe, just maybe they aren't quite as safe as the ad campaigns and experts say?