Comments on Tom Paine's Ghost: Dr. Temple Grandin

Hi David,Thanks for reading and participating. I ...

2009-03-25T08:26:00.000-06:00

Hi David,
Thanks for reading and participating. I think she would be the first to agree with you on your first point. She said first thing "before I draw any conclusions about this mess I would like to have all the primary research articles down in front of me so I could assess them all. Admittedly i have not done this either. Do you have specific paper suggestions? I am planning on gathering those mentioned by Paul Offit and doing what she proposed - reading them.

on you last point of "lack of mechanism" I would choose to rephrase that to lack of research results. the bottom line is that SOMETHING CAUSES autism and that is where the research is focused. We don't understand what that SOMETHING is but It is something. A proposed mechanism could be anything from watching too much TV to a specific chemical in baby bottles or whatever. but science tends to move toward the logical proposals first. right now a seemingly logical proposed mechanism is the defective neuronal methylation patterns caused by abnormal glutathione (and therefore available methyl groups) observed in animal models dosed with heavy metals during development. The research is ongoing but this is the proposed mechanism. only further research will reveal what is causing autism. and that is my main point.

Concerning the lack of a link between vaccination ...

2009-03-25T06:07:00.000-06:00

Concerning the lack of a link between vaccination and autism, it looks like Dr Grandin isn't as familiar with the relevant literature as she should be, nor with the complete lack of a mechanism...

Thanks for reading Stacey. While listening to her...

2009-03-24T00:21:00.000-06:00

Thanks for reading Stacey. While listening to her talk I got this vibe from her that she understood the world a little deeper and more seriously than most. She would make a point that everyone would laugh at and she did not laugh at all but just gaze at the audience. Her manner of communication is more effective because of her directness. I was really impressed.

Wonderful review of her talk, thank you. Whoever s...

2009-03-24T00:11:00.000-06:00

Wonderful review of her talk, thank you. Whoever said that people with autism weren't capable of emotion, haven't heard Temple speak. Emotion doesn't have to be heard through voice inflection or tears, you can hear it in someone's passion. Temple has devoted much of her life to her passion and I continue to be amazed and inspired by her.