Is there a way to stop the junk science?

Posted in Autism on 04. Dec, 2009

A recent press release caught my eye. Not for being good, far from it. It is yet another junk science approach to autism.

Perhaps you read it. The title was “Scientific Link to Autism Identified”. In it, a self labeled “think tank” called The Center for Modeling Optimal Outcomes, announced that “homeostasis” was the cause of autism.

The “full” press release is on their website. To the non scientist, especially on a quick read, it sounds convincing. But, in reality, it appears to be written by someone with a high-school biology education.

It has some excellent hooks to convince the casual reader. They present themselves as very successful in a separate field, and claim they stumbled upon a very important idea: that substances within the body exist in pairs. When these pairs are imbalanced, homeostasis is broken, resulting in chronic disease.

Autism, according the “The Center” is caused by an imbalance, or lack of homeostasis, in glycine and glutamate.

How does this cause the condition we know as autism? Unexplained. Somehow, glycine and glutamate “control the rate of cellular absorption”. Absorption of what? Unexplained. How does this cause autism? Unexplained.

But, it all sounds nice and official.

How do glycine and glutamate get away from “homeostasis”? Vaccines. I know, you are stunned that vaccines are implicated in causing autism. The “think tank” looked at the work of Andrew Wakefield and came away with the idea that MMR causes autism. What’s in an MMR shot? Hydrolized gelatin, which, in turn, contains glycine.

Of course, this is an important finding and controversial:

“Undoubtedly, this finding based on the application of the model for homeostasis will cause immense controversy. Our Life Sciences group is prepared to meet with members of the scientific community to explain the model as well as the variables that create the ‘perfect storm’ that results in autism.”

The controversy statement is a good one to make this appear real to many readers.

Perhaps the “think tank” could have done a bit more research into the autism alternative medical community. What are two of the most common supplements recommended by DAN!? TMG and DMG—trimethyl and dimethyl….glycine. Pure glycine is a supplement, sometimes recommended in the autism alt-med world (also here). But, somehow, we are supposed to believe that a small amount in an MMR shot causes the lifelong condition we call autism?

While it appears easy for some to sit back and point out that this press release, this homeostasis model of glycine and glutathione, is junk science, we must also recognize that it is not easy for everyone. The press release is wrapped in just enough jargon to make a convincing argument for many readers.

As Autism News Beat points out,

Health care fraud is a $100 billion a year racket in the US, and the bad guys know about autism.

Is the “The Center for Modeling Optimal Outcomes” part of the “bad guys” or are they just helping them? They don’t seem to be trying to profit from their junk science.

In the end, I don’t really care. I just wish they would take their junk science and apply it elsewhere.

3 people like this post.