Should Dr. Thomas Insel be Replaced as Chair of the IACC, Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee?

It is clear that Dr. Thomas Insel will not permit the IACC to recommend funding of an observational study comparing autism rates of existing vaccinated and unvaccinated populations as called for by many parents and credible health care professionals. He claimed before Senator Harkin's committee that such a study could not be done, contrary to the opinion of many health care researchers including Dr. Alexander on the IACC.

Such a study could actually provide reliable information about the possible role played by vaccines in triggering autism. Dr. Insel has also downplayed the recent studies recently reporting a 50% increase in autism diagnoses over a two year period. This latest information brings the reported rates from 1 in 500 to 1 in 91 over a 10 to 15 year period. Despite this alarming trend Dr. Insel responds with speculation, unsupported by any studies, that the increase could be due to better ability to detect autism disorders.

Should Dr. Insel be replaced as Chair of the IACC, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee by someone who would take autism disorders seriously?

Offer your opinion here and vote in the poll on the sidebar of this site.

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Autism Research Leadership: Katie Wright Rips the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and Dr. Tom Insel

Katie Wright has written a hard hitting piece,"Can You Hear Me Now?", on the role of the IACC and Dr. Tom Insel in preventing funding of meaningful vaccine autism studies including the comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. The article was written for SafeMinds and reprinted with permission at Age of Autism. Ms Wright calls for Secretary Sebelius "to investigate Dr. Insel’s actions and reinstatement of vaccine objectives that were removed under false premises in January from the IACC’s Strategic Plan. "

It will be interesting to see whether President Obama and Secretary Sebelius respond to the SafeMinds/Katie Wright request. Given Secretary Sebelius statements about the safety of the as yet untested Swine Flu vaccine and thimerosal it does not seem likely that the Obama administration will conduct a critical examination of the IACC and Dr. Insel's leadership on vaccine and autism issues.

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Vaccine-Autism War: Alison Singer Regurgitated

She is using different metaphors but Alison Singer is regurgitating her beliefs that numerous studies have been done disproving any vaccine-autism connection and now it is time to move on. Ms Singer was interviewed by Newsweek.com immediately after her clandestine vote to help reverse a previous Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee vote authorizing vaccine-autism studies. In an interview published online today on The Observer (Guardian.co.uk) Ms Singer repeats the black and white conclusions she offered at that time using some more colorful language:

"If you keep looking under the same rock, you're going to keep finding the same thing. Over and over, the science has shown there is no causal link between vaccines and autism. It's time to look for answers in new and different places."

Alison Singer, The Observer, January 25, 2009

Ms Singer will undoubtedly give more interviews rationalizing her decision to help prevent credible vaccine-autism research. Hopefully she will do more than regurgitate the same points and offer some informed responses to those very credible sources, like former American Red Cross and NIH head Dr. Bernadine Healy, who have articulated compelling arguments for further studies of possible vaccine-autism connections.

But Ms Singer is on the right track this time. There is wisdom in her comments about looking under different rocks. That is exactly what the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee had decided to do in December 2008 before Ms Singer joined IACC officials in reversing that December decision. Ms Singer with her vote helped prevent new rocks from being lifted, new information from being found.

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