Deetee
Illuminator
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2003
- Messages
- 3,789
There has been a lot of activity recently about autism/vaccination issues. First there was the rally rather strangely called "Green our vaccines", as though the protection of our nearest and dearest somehow comes hand in hand with a massive carbon footprint and environmental devastation. This rally in Washington was led by a movie comedian and his ex-porn star/model partner, who have/don't have (seems like it's quite debatable) a child with autism. What isn't debatable is their grasp of medicine and science - That seems to be nonexistent. Several hundred people turned up, which was an order of magnitude less than the number of antivaccine blogs trumpeting the triumphal procession to the Whitehouse.
At the same time, there was David Kirby trying to do the rounds in the UK greasing palms and promoting his rather odd views on autism/vaccines. Seems like this was a total damp squib - the idea was to hold a public meeting to pronounce the death knell of vaccines, but it looks like no-one informed the press, who were conspicuous by their absence. More likely is the theory they were informed, but were so bored with the idea they didn't bother to show. He did arrange an interview with the BBC apparently, and had an article ready to go to print in the Daily Wail, but again nothing happened. Already there are cries of conspiracy about the media silence. I am sure I saw a black helicopter over Tower bridge the other day, which is not so many miles from fleet street, so this must be true. Kirby also tried to set up a meeting at the Houses of Parliament to try and influence MPs and peers. Seems like only 1 MP and 3 peers were in attendance. That includes those who were "sponsoring" this exercise in stupidity. He has now returned to the States to lick his wounds.
Meanwhile, this piece in the Times caught my eye.
The autism epidemic cometh, by Mark Henderson.
It is (as usual) a sensible article explaining how autism diagnoses have risen in recent years. This has been covered in blogs/sites quite thoroughly elsewhere, but this time it seems a parent of an autistic child has done his own work and published his own story, "Unstrange Minds".
I'll be putting it on my reading list. It's too much to hope that the rabid antivaxers will do the same.
At the same time, there was David Kirby trying to do the rounds in the UK greasing palms and promoting his rather odd views on autism/vaccines. Seems like this was a total damp squib - the idea was to hold a public meeting to pronounce the death knell of vaccines, but it looks like no-one informed the press, who were conspicuous by their absence. More likely is the theory they were informed, but were so bored with the idea they didn't bother to show. He did arrange an interview with the BBC apparently, and had an article ready to go to print in the Daily Wail, but again nothing happened. Already there are cries of conspiracy about the media silence. I am sure I saw a black helicopter over Tower bridge the other day, which is not so many miles from fleet street, so this must be true. Kirby also tried to set up a meeting at the Houses of Parliament to try and influence MPs and peers. Seems like only 1 MP and 3 peers were in attendance. That includes those who were "sponsoring" this exercise in stupidity. He has now returned to the States to lick his wounds.
Meanwhile, this piece in the Times caught my eye.
The autism epidemic cometh, by Mark Henderson.
It is (as usual) a sensible article explaining how autism diagnoses have risen in recent years. This has been covered in blogs/sites quite thoroughly elsewhere, but this time it seems a parent of an autistic child has done his own work and published his own story, "Unstrange Minds".
I'll be putting it on my reading list. It's too much to hope that the rabid antivaxers will do the same.

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