You'd Think Nearly Every Child Would Have Autism

There was a study released last week, led by an economics professor at Cornell University, that said the huge increase in Autism is the result of...that's right -- TV! Please, go kill your television, immediately! We must end Autism!

Oh wait, let's not get hasty. Let's think about this a moment. The study tries to link a very complicated disease that involves not only brain development, but the immune system and the gastro-intestinal system as well, with findings based on statistics. Hmm. An ECONOMICS professor using STATISTICS is telling us the cause of Autism. OK, I'm not going to jump on your bandwagon just yet, dude. And the researchers, "admit that their findings are not “definitive evidence” because they could find only indirect evidence of the amount of time that autistic children spend viewing television." [The Sunday Times, UK Oct. 22, 2006]

Yes, that's right. This seriously flawed study used statistics to link the high rates of Autism in California, Oregon, and Washington to the high incidence of cable TV and round the clock kids' programming starting in the 80s. But wait, they didn't use actual stats of TV watching in kids with Autism, but rainfall stats. Huh? I'm not following. Oh, I see, areas with high rainfall (CA, OR and WA) must have higher TV watching, because that's what you do with kids when it's raining, right? You couldn't possibly, say, play with your kids, inside, with -- what are those things called? Oh yes, toys -- when it's raining? No, no, you must be watching TV. Because it's raining. The higher rainfall causing more mold and mildew, and keeping kids indoors where there's poorer air quality wouldn't have anything to do with it. It's all TV's fault. Well, I could almost see part of the TV thing. After all, TV casings contain the toxic flame retardant deca-BDE (which was banned in the EU this summer), that, along with all the hundreds of other toxins floating around in our homes, could have something to do with Autism. But this study says, no, it's definitely "television watching" that's the problem.

So, we have the above "scientific study" released last week, as well as one from Vanderbilt University, done by *cough* real scientists. The Vanderbilt study, "of 743 families, in which 1,200 members were diagnosed with autism, has found evidence of a mutated gene [MET] that is involved in brain development, the immune system and the gastro-intestinal system..." [The Sunday Times] Hmm. So, do I think Autism could be from the above mentioned gene mutation, or do I think it's from TV? I wonder.

Oh, and a friend of mine has a 2 1/2 year old son with Autism who has NEVER WATCHED TV in his life. Yeah, I wonder.

No offense to any economists out there, but where Autism is concerned, I'm going with the developmental neurobiologist's research.

By the way, the picture above is not of one of my kids. It's probably some other child who, if the cockamamie Cornell study is right, is doomed to have Autism.